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New details emerged Thursday about how hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccines will be distributed in the U.S. and who will bear the cost. The U.S. government will pay for the vaccines and their distribution, and is working with commercial health insurers to offer the shots free of charge and without a copay, according to Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “What we’re hoping is that every American will not only get a free vaccine distributed to many different outlets, but also will not have to pay for the administration of that vaccine,” Mr. Mango said on a call with reporters. (Hopkins, 8/13)

So far, the deals with a handful of pharmaceutical giants have topped roughly $10.79 billion as part of Operation Warp Speed, a program led by several departments within the federal government to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and treatments to fight the coronavirus. The operation aims to provide at least 300 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by January 2021. In most of the agreements, HHS says the vaccines will be given to the American people for free if part of a vaccine campaign but healthcare professionals could charge for the cost of administering the vaccines. (Higgins-Dunn, 8/14)

Only about one-third of Americans say they'd be very likely to get a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, according to a poll released last month – virtually unchanged since the spring. More people said they would get it if the vaccine were free, and others said they would sign on if there was a second wave of infections – a sign that while many Americans are hesitant about a vaccine, their opinions aren't set in stone. But convincing them that getting a vaccine is a good idea will take effort and money. And so far, no  federal dollars have been set aside for vaccine education. (Weintraub, 8/13)

The U.S. government has now signed six deals with vaccine-makers to produce coronavirus shots, even before it’s clear any are effective — and with a risk the companies won’t be able to ramp up production in time to deliver hundreds of millions of doses. Some of the experimental vaccines use technology that has never before reached the market, so there is no precedent for producing hundreds of millions of doses. Other potential bottlenecks include a global sand shortage that could throttle the production of glass vials, and limited supplies of chemicals called adjuvants that are sometimes used to boost a vaccine’s ability to provoke an immune response. (Brennan, 8/12)