Wyoming cutting free vaccines for insured children

CHEYENNE – Wyoming is cutting the types of vaccinations, including flu shots, available for free to children who have health insurance.

Gov. Matt Mead said today those uninsured, those on Medicaid and Native Americans will still receive shots for free.

After July 1, the Wyoming Vaccinates Important People program will no longer use state money to buy hepatitis A, human papillomavirus (HPV), influenza and meningococcal conjugate vaccines for children who do not qualify for the federal Vaccines for Children program.

The federal program covers children in the groups that the governor mentioned. About 40 percent of Wyoming’s children are covered by federal VFC funding, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Challenges posed by growing demand and increased costs are leading to necessary changes in the Wyoming Department of Health’s vaccine program for children,” the agency said.

Families covered by health insurance will have to pay for their shots.

There may be a segment of underinsured families for whom the shots are a financial hardship, Mead said.

Mead said he would be open to finding the money to fill the gap for families are hurt by the change. But he would like to get accurate information about the number of people who have problems and the costs.

“While the state does have money in reserves (savings accounts) – there’s no question about it – we also saw within the Department of Health, particularly regarding Medicaid, there was some tremendous shortfalls that we had to deal with for this last legislative session,” Mead said. “That continues to be where we are putting a lot of money and even extra money.”

The Wyoming Vaccinates Important People – WyVIP – program provides vaccines at no cost for Wyoming kids through participating health-care providers.

Providers sometimes charge an administrative fee of less than $15 for immunizations. The cost of the medication has been covered by a combination of state and federal funding.

The state will continue to provide free vaccine for immunizations required to attend Wyoming schools.

Jan Bloom, Immunization Section chief with the Wyoming Department of Health, said since the program began in 2006 more babies are being born in Wyoming. That means more kids to immunize. The costs of the vaccines has also increased.

More information can be found online from the Wyoming Department of Health at www.immunizewyoming.com.