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Major health insurance providers, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna and Kaiser Permanente, said they planned to cover the COVID-19 shots as routine vaccinations when reached for comment by The Hill. Providers like Cigna and Anthem did not immediately respond when reached for comment or deferred inquiries to AHIP, the health insurance trade association. “Health insurance providers are working with the federal government and pharmacy and provider partners to ensure that everyone has access to ACIP-recommended vaccines, without cost sharing,” AHIP said in a statement to The Hill. (Choi, 9/21)

It’s déjà vu for some Americans looking for the latest Covid-19 vaccines. Certain people who were lucky enough to snag an appointment for the latest formulation are receiving cancellation notices or showing up to learn there isn’t a dose available for them. Some are being told they need to pay more than $100 out of pocket because their insurance provider isn’t covering the shots yet. (Peebles, 9/21)

Some people seeking the newest COVID-19 vaccine are running into high demand, insurance headaches and supply delays coast to coast. Millions of the newly formulated vaccines have shipped out since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on them last week for ages 6 months and up. Cases started rising again in late summer, and experts hope that the new shots will help protect people during the upcoming fall respiratory virus season. (Shastri, 9/21)

Meanwhile, covid concerns rise as new cases do —

Three in 10 Americans believe the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening, while more than 1 in 4 worry about being infected, according to a new Gallup poll. The new poll, published Thursday, found that 30 percent of respondents said the ongoing pandemic is worsening, while 41 percent think it’s getting better and 30 percent said it has stayed the same. (Oshin, 9/21)

State officials are monitoring a “cluster” of COVID-19 cases at the Holyoke Veterans home as 10 residents have tested positive for the virus since last weekend, according to the state Executive Office of Veterans Services. Formerly known as the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home where a COVID outbreak killed at least 76 veterans in 2020, the facility has implemented universal masking throughout the facility and exposed staff members are being tested daily. (Stoico, 9/21)

Healthcare workers in several Bay Area counties will soon be required to wear masks in patient care settings as the region contends with continued coronavirus transmission and looks ahead to the wider respiratory virus season. The mandates, which go into effect Nov. 1, require health officials in Contra Costa, Alameda, Sonoma and San Mateo counties to wear masks in hospitals and other settings where patients will be getting care indoors. (Lin, 9/21)

In other news relating to covid —

Less than half of all US adults received their flu vaccine last flu season (47.4%), but that rate is slightly higher compared to the same time in March a year prior (45.4%). Vaccination is vital to protect individuals, communities and to avoid burdening already overtaxed health care systems. Last season, people vaccinated against the flu were about 40% to 70% less likely to be hospitalized because of flu illness or related complications, according to preliminary estimates from the CDC. (Chernikoff, 9/22)

Most of Europe was in lockdown in April 2020 when a plane arrived in the Serbian capital bearing a well-timed gift from the People’s Republic of China. Inside was a Chinese invention called the Fire-Eye, a sophisticated portable lab that could detect coronavirus infections from tiny genetic fragments the pathogen leaves behind. And that, as Serbians soon discovered, was the least of its capabilities. (Warrick and Brown, 9/21)