Immunization & Vaccines

Understanding Coverage Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments (Updated May 2023)

Effective January 1, 2023, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) eliminated enrollee cost-sharing for recommended vaccines covered under Medicare Part D. In 2021, 3.4 million people received vaccines under Part D, and annual out-of-pocket costs were $234 million.

This study updates ASPE’s previous analysis of the associations between COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries and COVID-19 vaccination rates, with full year data through the end of 2021.

Using Medicare FFS claims data and county-level vaccination rates, we estimate savings of about $2.6 billion from reduced Medicare hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 vaccinations in early 2021.

We document a number of key facts related to trends in COVID-19 vaccination intentions of unvaccinated adults in the United States from April 2021 to January 2022 using the Household Pulse Survey. First, among unvaccinated adults both those who were willing to vaccinate and those who were previously unwilling to vaccinate eventually vaccinated in large numbers.

This ASPE issue brief examines demographic characteristics of adults receiving booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. As of March 9, 2022, 47.5 percent of the fully vaccinated adult population has received a booster.

This ASPE issue brief examines hesitancy among parents to vaccinate children ages 5-11 and 12-17 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. Overall, a larger percent of parents with children aged 5-11 are hesitant to vaccinate their children (34 percent) than parents of children aged 12-17 (21 percent).

This ASPE Research Report models the estimated reductions in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths associated with COVID-19 vaccination from December 2020 through July 2021. To download the Research Report, please download the PDF to the right under “Files”. To explore our dashboard that presents the Report’s results, please see below.

The purpose of this study is to identify associations between COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths among Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries and the proportion of the population fully vaccinated at the county-level between January and May 2021.

As of September 13, 2021, three vaccines to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are available in the United States. The Pfizer vaccine was granted full approval for use in individuals over the age of 16 by the U.S.