Any of the approved COVID-19 vaccines can be had easily and equitably in New Jersey right now, with more than 1,800 vaccination sites in operation around the state.
The shots are available free of charge regardless of health insurance status, but numbers crunched at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University seem to show that not everyone may realize that.
“There is a certain degree of confusion, I would say, among the uninsured community, and they are afraid that they will end up getting the bill from the hospital,” Soumitra Bhuyan, assistant professor of health administration and the lead author of Rutgers’ new national survey, said. “They don’t have to pay for the vaccines or its administration, and the government is actually paying that for the people who are not insured.”