By Amina Niasse
(Reuters) – A Pennsylvania-based pharmacist who gained fame during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic dressing up as Superman to deliver vaccines has the suit at the ready again.
In September, Mayank Amin, who owns an independent pharmacy called Skippack pharmacy in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, gave thousands of COVID shots as patients rushed to get them amid fears that shifting U.S. government policy would affect their eligibility.
“Anything that’s in shortage or that has questions attached to it, you want to get it,” Amin said.
Though he has largely retired the costume, Amin has broken it out for a clinic for older people and continues to use it for children who specifically request Superman.
“It’s kind of like how a firefighter’s costume hangs at the station,” said Amin. “It’s better that it stays on the wall.”
An outside panel of advisers to the CDC is meeting Friday to discuss recommendations on who should get the current vaccine. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. already removed it from the CDC’s list of recommended vaccines for healthy pregnant women and children several months ago.
The Food and Drug Administration last month narrowed its approval for the shots to people aged 65 and older or those under that age who are at risk for severe disease. The panel can make its own recommendation.
Insurance coverage is linked to panel recommendations under the Affordable Care Act. Lobbying group AHIP has said that insurers will continue to cover the shots widely through 2026.
STATES BYPASS FEDERAL GUIDANCE ON VACCINES
Skippack said the latest surge in demand was due to a lack of clarity in how health insurance coverage will be affected this year by those changes as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel meeting.
Pennsylvania, along with 16 states, decided earlier in September to allow pharmacists administering vaccines to also follow the authority of medical organizations. Such groups are giving their own recommendations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists after Kennedy gutted the panel and replaced its members with his own hand-picked advisers.
The surge has pushed the pharmacy, which has provided shots to at least 2,000 people this month, to tack on hours at the end of the day, administering shots through 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
“We had calls and messages and people waiting outside, once again, just like the old COVID days,” said Amin.
(Reporting by Amina Niasse in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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