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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Committee, issued the following statement on the Senate unanimously passing the Strengthening and Amplifying Vaccination Efforts to Locally Immunize all Veterans and Every Spouse (SAVE LIVES) Act, bipartisan legislation to expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to veterans and their families under the Department of Veterans Affairs:

“Our goal is to get vaccines into the arms of every person who wants one, and the people who risked their lives for our freedom should be at the front of the line. Our bipartisan legislation makes it easier for veterans, their loved ones, and their caregivers who are not already prioritized to receive the vaccine at no additional cost to them.”

The SAVE LIVES Act would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide no-cost COVID vaccination services to all veterans, veteran spouses, caregivers, and Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) recipients to the extent that such vaccines are available. It also urges the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to adjust the Veterans Affairs Department vaccine allocation based on this increased eligibility pool, as much as the supply chain allows. Specifically, the legislation will provide vaccines to: 

  • Veterans who are not eligible for enrollment in VA’s health care system, including veterans without compensable service-connected disabilities and veterans who have incomes above a certain threshold;
  • Caregivers of veterans who are enrolled in various VA home-based and long-term care programs; 
  • Veterans living abroad who rely on the Foreign Medical Program;
  • Spouses of veterans; and
  • CHAMPVA recipients (spouses or children of permanently and totally disabled veterans or of veterans who have died from service-connected disabilities).

Senator Cramer joined this bill led by VA Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT), Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-KS), and cosponsored by Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), Margaret Hassan (D-NH), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Gary Peters (D-MI), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).

Click here for the text of the bill.