The government has spent about $9 billion on the COVID-19 vaccine among seven companies. Every year, the U.S. government spends about $26.5 billion treating four major vaccine-preventable diseases for adults younger than 50 years old. An average breakdown of the most common vaccines is $16 billion for the flu vaccine, $5.1 billion for pneumococcal, $5 billion for shingles and $397.7 million for pertussis.