Bloomberg Quint

The Covid-19 pandemic is harming the long-term health of low-income children, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Wednesday. Vaccination rates, primary preventive care, and screenings among children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program have plummeted during the pandemic, the CMS said. Between March and May, vaccinations for children under age 2 were down 22% compared to the same time period last year. Child screening services that are crucial for early detection of conditions like autism were down 44% over last year. Dental services were down 69%… “Under their watch, 726,000 children have lost their health insurance, and years of national progress have been reversed,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.

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