Medicare Part D covers most vaccines and immunizations. Medicare Part B covers some others, such as flu shots and the COVID-19 vaccine. Medicare Advantage (Part C) also offers vaccine coverage.

Medicare offers all vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at no cost to the individual, other than the costs of the plan itself. In some cases, Medicare may also cover travel vaccines.

Read on to learn more about Medicare’s vaccination coverage and what costs it may involve.

Glossary of Medicare terms

We may use a few terms in this article that can be helpful to understand when selecting the best insurance plan:

  • Out-of-pocket costs: An out-of-pocket cost is the amount a person must pay for medical care when Medicare does not pay the total cost or offer coverage. These costs can include deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and premiums.
  • Deductible: This is an annual amount a person must spend out of pocket within a certain period before an insurer starts to fund their treatments.
  • Coinsurance: This is the percentage of treatment costs that a person must self-fund. For Medicare Part B, this is 20%.
  • Copayment: This is a fixed dollar amount a person with insurance pays when receiving certain treatments. For Medicare, this usually applies to prescription drugs.
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Medicare Part D provides prescription drug coverage. It covers most commercially available vaccines and immunizations.

Examples of covered vaccines include:

Part D also covers travel vaccines that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends, such as vaccines for:

A person can contact Medicare to find out whether their specific Plan D formulary covers vaccines they may need for travel. A formulary is a list of covered medications.

Although Medicare Part D covers most vaccinations, some coverage falls under Medicare Part B instead.

Medicare Part B covers vaccines for:

Part B also covers tetanus and rabies shots if a person has been recently exposed or if they are at immediate risk of either condition.

Medicare Advantage, also known as Medicare Part C, bundles together both parts of Original Medicare (parts A and B). It also usually includes Part D.

This means that Medicare Advantage typically provides the same vaccine coverage as parts B and D.

Medicaid now covers all recommended vaccinations for adults. This includes no cost sharing, which means that the individual does not pay any out-of-pocket costs for the vaccine.

Under Medicare Part D, there are no out-of-pocket costs for all adult vaccines that the ACIP recommends.

Vaccine coverage under Part B, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid are also usually free from out-of-pocket costs.

Medicare resources

For more resources to help guide you through the complex world of medical insurance, visit our Medicare hub.

Medicare Part D covers most vaccines and immunizations for adults, including shingles, hepatitis A, and Tdap. Part B covers a few specific vaccinations for conditions such as the flu, pneumonia, hepatitis B, and COVID-19.

Medicare Advantage and Medicaid also cover vaccines.

There are usually no out-of-pocket costs for vaccines that the ACIP recommends. This includes some travel vaccines.

A person can contact Medicare to find out more about their specific plan’s coverage for vaccines and immunizations.