Living in a state at the epicenter of America’s measles outbreak, Thang Nguyen believed that vaccinating his son against the deadly virus was an obvious choice.

His 4-year-old son, Anh Hoang, had only received his first dose of the measles shot, and Nguyen worried he could get infected without the second. 

So he took him to a clinic at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston where staff assured him the shot was free.

During that mid-March visit, the staff also administered the DTaP vaccine—to protect against whooping cough—and the flu shot, which they mentioned were complimentary.

Roughly a month later, a bill came from UTMB, stating he owed the clinic $2,532 for his son’s vaccinations, which included $1,400 for the measles vaccine and $161 merely for administering the dose.

‘I was in shock,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘It was so insane, just insane. I felt like I was being punished for doing the right thing.’

Nguyen, who is from Vietnam and is studying public health in the US, added, ‘In my country, the measles vaccine is free, and I thought it would be the same in the US, because this is a developed country.’

The family lives in Galveston, where officials have urged people to be ‘vigilant’ for new cases. A total of 753 people have been diagnosed with measles in Texas so far this year, in America’s largest outbreak in two decades.

The country has also seen its first measles deaths in a decade, after two children – 6 and 8 years old – died from the infection. 

Nguyen now says that, following the high cost of the vaccination, his family is considering flying back to Vietnam for any future inoculations, with a round-trip ticket costing about $1,000 per person.

‘We can take advantage of being with my family and still get the children protected with the vaccines, and not feel uncomfortable about the price,’ he said of the potential travel.

Measles is particularly dangerous for children under 5 years old, with one in five unvaccinated children being hospitalized, one in 20 developing pneumonia and one to three in 1,000 dying from the disease, according to the CDC.

To slash this risk, the US recommends two doses of the measles vaccine, with the first administered between 12 and 15 months and the second between four and six years old.

The shots are generally free via health insurance or state plans in the US, but in some cases, inoculation claims can fall through the cracks and patients wind up with hefty bills.

Nguyen brought his family to the US for his public health studies, and he makes less than $57,000 a year as a researcher.

He has health insurance through his job, but can’t afford paying $615 a month to extend his coverage to his wife and three children. His other two children are already vaccinated against measles.

Instead, the family signed up for a plan with insurance broker TaiAn, administered by the International Medical Group. This cost $1,841 for the year, but, unbeknownst to the family, does not cover routine vaccinations.

At $1,400 for one dose of the measles vaccine, this was more than five times the CDC’s estimated cost from private insurers at $278.16 and seven-and-a-half times the $186.55 the agency says the injection should cost. 

Prescription website GoodRx suggests that, in the area, the vaccine should cost between $285 and $326.

It is unclear why the family was charged so much for the vaccine. 

Neither the insurer nor UTMB clinic responded to the Daily Mail’s requests for comment.

In the bill for his son’s appointment, Nguyen was also charged $313 for the DTaP vaccine and $161 to administer it, as well as $35 for the flu vaccine and $378 to ‘evaluate the patient.’

Nguyen said that as a public health researcher he had no concerns over getting the vaccine and was eager to protect his children.

But he warned that the monumental cost of the vaccine at some hospitals could be driving people away from getting inoculated – which could further fuel the measles outbreak.

Measles vaccination uptake declined in eight out of every 10 US counties last year, a study warned.

In Texas, an estimated 94.3 percent of kindergarteners are vaccinated against measles – below the 95 percent needed to prevent an outbreak. In some counties, however, particularly in the Texas panhandle, the vaccination rate falls as low as 66.67 percent.

‘I talk to people here and they say, “Yes, it is quite believable that this could happen,”‘ he told the Mail of the surprise bills. ‘But I am in shock, this was the very first time I took my family to a healthcare clinic here.’

He initially disputed the bill with UTMB, which applied a 50 percent discount – normally offered to those with no health insurance – but that still left him with a $1,266 price for his son’s appointment.

Nguyen then contacted KFF News, who also reached out to UTMB. The interaction resulted in the hospital waiving the vaccination fee.

The new bill total was $202.75 for his son’s appointment, which the hospital said was to cover administrative fees.

A spokesperson for the hospital insisted to KFF News that staff had made a billing error which led to the charges.

The representative also said the family should have been covered by Texas’ Vaccines for Children Program, a federally funded effort that provides free immunizations for uninsured or underinsured children.

At the same appointment, Nguyen’s two 11-year-old daughters also received the HPV vaccine and the flu shot, and he and his wife received flu shots.

They were billed nearly $8,400 in total for the vaccinations and hospital time, also including $1,250 for his wife’s appointment and vaccination and $4,618 for the appointments and vaccinations for his daughters.

The hospital has now waived the charges for all the vaccinations, but is still charging administrative fees.

Overall, the family now owes $1,350 – which includes $202.75 for the two daughter’s appointments and $741.75 for his wife’s.

Nguyen said they are paying this off slowly via a plan – they pay $50 every month.