Quoting the US Health and Human Services (HHS) blog post, The Hill writes that The White House is shifting Covid-19 vaccine distribution to the private sector beginning January 2023. Currently, the federal government is purchasing vaccines from the manufacturers and directly distribute to states and national healthcare systems.

In a hhs.gov blog post, Dawn O’Connell, an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, wrote “We have always intended to transition this work to the commercial market and have been planning for that transition for some time now. Unfortunately, the timeline to make the transition has accelerated over the past six months without additional funds from Congress to support this work.”

In the US, most insurance company pay for the vaccines as well as other treatment costs for those who have health insurance.

O’Connell wrote “As early as January 2023, the Administration anticipates no longer having federal funds to purchase or distribute vaccines and will need to transition these activities to the commercial market, similar to seasonal flu or other commercially available vaccines.”

O’Connell added “Additional COVID-19 funding continues to be urgently needed for a range of critical response needs, including the development of next-generation vaccines, therapeutics, and tests.”