The Claim in Context
Recent misleading statements—whether stated by government officials or shared on social media—wrongly assert that pediatricians have financial motivations for recommending childhood immunizations. The fact is, pediatricians often take on significant costs to provide the vaccinations their patients need, and the minimal payments they receive do not always cover these costs. Pediatricians recommend childhood vaccines because they are one of our most effective tools to help keep children healthy and prevent diseases from spreading in communities.
Key Facts
- Pediatricians recommend and provide immunizations because they care about your child and want to protect them from preventable illnesses. Decades of medical evidence prove that vaccines help strengthen children’s immune systems so they are ready to resist dangerous diseases.
- Providing immunizations imposes significant costs for a pediatric practice: high upfront vaccine purchase costs, complex storage and handling expenses such as specialized refrigeration and insurance, database software to meet state reporting requirements, professional liability insurance, medical equipment and physician and staff time. These costs make vaccinations one of a pediatric practice’s biggest overhead expenses.
- Payments from private insurance and Medicaid vary widely and often fail to cover the full cost of administering vaccines. The federal government’s Vaccines for Children program provides free vaccines but no payment for the associated costs. Because of this, surveys indicate that many pediatrician practices find providing childhood vaccines to be a financial burden.
- To promote high-quality care and reduce overall health care costs, many insurance companies are adopting value-based payment models. These models recognize a wide range of preventive services that help avoid costly and invasive treatments. Pediatricians, for example, prioritize services like lead exposure screening, depression screening, and immunizations—not only because they protect children from serious illness, but also because they contribute to better care outcomes in all circumstances. Importantly, immunizations are recognized as contributing to higher quality care.
Evidence Snapshot
Repeated studies and surveys of pediatricians in recent years (2009, 2014) across a wide range of payors and practices show low or insufficient payment for the actual expenses of vaccine administration. While payment varies by payor/insurer, providing vaccines to children often creates costs for pediatrician practices rather than profits.
Why it Matters
A child’s health and well-being is the number one priority in any medical recommendation. Inaccurate representations of how pediatricians cover the costs of vaccine delivery and the impact of these costs on practice financial viability sow needless distrust and make it harder to address the barriers too many communities face in accessing vaccines.
Experts Say:
“Childhood immunizations are one of the most effective tools we have to protect children from serious diseases, and as a pediatrician, the health and well-being of your child is always my top priority. Saying that pediatricians’ vaccine recommendations are financially motivated isn’t just wrong, it goes against our entire approach to patient care. Pediatricians actually often incur costs to give immunizations because we know how important—and lifesaving—they are to children’s health.”
— Jesse Hackell, MD, FAAP, Chair, Committee on Pediatric Workforce, American Academy of Pediatrics
Resources for Further Information
Last Updated
08/13/2025
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics