CDC set to cut state funding for child vaccination programs

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing funding to states for child vaccination programs, according to an agency email obtained by Kaiser Health News (Source: “CDC to Reduce Funding for States’ Child Vaccination Programs,” Kaiser Health News, July 5).

The funding cut “is a significant change to your budget,” said the email to immunization managers, dated June 27 and signed by two CDC officials.

The immunization managers who received the message are public health officials who direct state, territorial and local programs to promote vaccinations against a variety of infectious diseases, such as measles and chickenpox. The reduction comes from a federal immunization grant — totaling about $680 million in the latest year — that supports vaccination programs for children, according to the Association of Immunization Managers.

Agency officials linked the reduction to the debt ceiling deal recently struck by the Biden administration and Congress. The cut may result in less complete reporting on vaccinations, the CDC said.