COVID vaccines have been updated to include protection against new variants of the virus that are currently circulating, but that’s not the only thing that has changed. Equally significant is that the vaccine is largely no longer paid for by the federal government, now that the Public Health Emergency for the pandemic, in place from January 2020 until last May, has ended.
That means that most of the COVID shots will now be paid for by insurance, whether private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. Medicare and Medicaid pay the full cost, as do most private insurers.