How a Vaccine Gets an NDC, a Code, and No Price
CMS posted the 2026-2027 seasonal vaccine payment file on Friday evening. Nine influenza codes arrived with a number, every one of them higher than the July quarterly file, and one of them new at $171.21. The six COVID-19 codes arrived with a manufacturer, a national drug code, an August 27 effective date, and the letters TBA where the payment limit goes. Also in this radar: the FY2027 Medicare Code Editor came out of the proposed rule six codes heavier, and the rest of the federal machine published nothing at all.
CMS put the 2026-2027 seasonal vaccine payment file up on Friday evening.
Nine influenza codes came with a number. Six COVID-19 codes came with the letters TBA.
Those six rows arrived complete in every other respect. Each one carries an effective date of August 27, 2026, a labeler, and a national drug code, all published in the same hour on the same afternoon.
The only field missing is the amount Medicare pays you.
The rest of this brief is for subscribers.
The impact tables, the code-level detail, and the rest of the analysis sit past this line.
$50 a month, or $500 a year.
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