Financial strains have led the state to cut funding for 11 immunizations for insured children.
The North Carolina Immunization Program will no longer provide these vaccines for free to pediatricians and their insured patients. Among these immunizations are the Hepatitis A vaccine, the Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella vaccine, the second dose of Varicella, the Diptheria, Tetanus and Pertussis vaccine, the Hepatitis B vaccine, the polio vaccine and combination shots like Pediatrix.
“Funding formulas need to be re-explored during tight financial times,” State Health Director Dr. Jeff Engel said.
NCIP participants were notified of the decision in an Oct. 30 memo from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which announced the measures will take effect Dec. 1.
Engel said the cut was made from the $18 million universal vaccine fund in North Carolina, a state fund that provides necessary immunizations to all children, including those who are insured.
“Taxpayers pay [this fund] for insured kids,” Engel said, adding that some vaccines—like the combination shots—cost $100 or more.
As a result of this first cut, $4 million were moved back to the state general fund.
Before the institution of the universal vaccine fund, pediatricians privately purchased patients’ vaccines up-front, at high retail costs. In addition, insured patients’ parents often had to pay deductibles and co-pays to insurance companies for the immunizations.
Engel said the new cut “is going to force those problems to re-emerge,” adding that North Carolina Public Health is working with the North Carolina Pediatric Society to explore other ways to fund the program.
He noted, however, that the state does not believe the cut vaccines are any less essential than those that will still be universally funded by the NCIP.
“All these vaccines are vital to public health and we would never want a child to go without them,” he said.
Certain vaccines were cut because similar vaccinations are still available, as with the combination shots, or—as with Hepatitis A—the shot is not required by public school systems because Hepatitis A is not contagious, Engel said.
Amy Caruso, public information officer for the NC DHHS, added that the vaccination fund was not the only sector of the department to suffer cuts.
“Tons of huge cuts were made. This was just one piece of a lot of cuts,” she said. “They definitely thought about it for a while as much as they could think about it.”
This decision will not affect patients eligible for the Vaccines for Children program, according to the Oct. 30 memo. VFC is a separate federally-funded program for the uninsured and the under-insured, children on Medicaid and Native American and Alaskan Native children.
Caruso said she hopes insurance companies will “pick up the slack” to shoulder the costs for the vaccines.
Representatives from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina could not be reached for comment.
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