Multiple Causes Cited for Trickle of Covid Vaccines into USVI

Virgin Islanders haven’t had an easy time finding the most recent COVID-19 vaccine. Unlike previous versions, the 2023–2024 monovalent XBB.1.5 variant mRNA COVID-19 vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech aren’t distributed for free by the federal government. While for-profit companies distribute the inoculations, medical providers have struggled to meet demand, health experts said Monday.

Uninsured and under-insured people can still get no-cost immunizations through the Health Department. Everyone else wanting the latest COVID vaccine must queue up.

The federally funded COVID-19 vaccines program ended in mid-September, with only a Bridge Access Program for those without proper health insurance left for free, said Monife Stout, director of the Health Department’s Immunization Program.

“But this is just for this specific population. If you are a provider and you opt out and you say, well, I just want to serve persons with, you know, insurance, then you are responsible for purchasing your vaccine from your vendor, whatever vendor you use, to see if they have it, and to go ahead and administer those vaccines to your insured population,” Stout said Friday.

Those private doctors haven’t had it easy. The U.S. Virgin Islands is considered a foreign jurisdiction by most medical suppliers, said Dr. Jessica Wilson of Wilson Healthcare Consultants in St. Thomas. Healthcare providers in the territory are left relying on relationships with individual vaccine suppliers, a task made more difficult since Puerto Rico-based DeVictoria Medical opted to stop sending inoculations to the USVI. Cultivating mainland sources can be difficult.