The cuts come amid a fresh increase in both infections and hospitalizations. “I know people are fatigued, but this virus is more patient than we are.” “The moment that we get a little bit ahead of this problem, they rip back any protections we have,” Smoller said. When the federal reimbursements that covered the administrative costs of those shots ended, he had to stop, though he continues to give vaccines free of cost to people who come into his pharmacy. From September until March, he drove out to neighboring areas to administer a few thousand shots a week. “From my perspective, it’s insanity,” says Neal Smoller, the pharmacist in Woodstock, New York, who was running the outreach operation. Less access could also prolong the pandemic, allowing the virus to circulate and perhaps provide a haven for new, more dangerous variants. The dried-up dollars are making it harder for the low-income people who rely on these providers for testing and vaccines to get them, threatening to widen health disparities across the country. In Maine, a community health center that serves one of the state’s poorest areas is putting plans on hold to expand its dental and mental health services to pay for Covid care. In New York, a pharmacist who was administering thousands of vaccine doses a week to underinsured communities has stopped his outreach work.
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