By Samuetta Hill Drew
In last week’s article we reviewed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation stating adolescents ages 12 and older receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to prevent contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus. This particular COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with adolescents.
Some of you and your children may be somewhat leery about having your child(ren) in this age category be vaccinated with the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Hopefully, this article will shed some light on why the CDC and others in the scientific and medical community agree as well as to when it should be administered.
A COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines can be given the same day. Previously, due to the newness of COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC had recommended against getting any other vaccines two weeks before and after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC changed its recommendation based on safety data gathered in recent months.
The CDC states that parents or legal guardians should get their adolescent vaccinated as soon as possible. The COVID-19 vaccines have been used under the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history, which included studies in adolescents. Therefore, the CDC believes from these various research findings the vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 12 and older.
Your child will need a second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine three weeks after their first shot. Please note the CDC says your child cannot get COVID-19 from any COVID-19 vaccine.
C0VID-19 providers will not charge you for the vaccine. Providers cannot:
• Charge you for the vaccine
• Charge you any administration fees, co-pays, coinsurance, or the balance of the bill after appropriate reimbursement.
• Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network.
• Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination.
• Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate.
Keeping an Eye on Safety during this pandemic rests in the hands of citizens, young and old. Next week we will further discuss this topic and other important issues centered around it.
