Trump cuts threaten free vaccine program for kids amid measles outbreak
Source: Reuters
April 23, 2025 11:25 AM EDT Updated 2 hours ago
April 23 - Dr. Ali Sherif normally gives about 50 doses of the measles vaccine to children each month at his clinic in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the Texas state line. The number of shots at his clinic has surged about 25%, however, in recent weeks as local parents seek immunizations to protect their toddlers and school-age children from a growing measles outbreak that has infected more than 600 people and led to three deaths. Like thousands of other doctors across the country, Sherif relies on a little-known federal program to ensure he has those shots on hand for families at no cost to them.
The Vaccines for Children program is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administered by state public health officials. With an annual budget of roughly $5 billion, the vaccines program is responsible for about half the jabs administered to U.S. children every year. The initiative funds vaccine purchases from drug manufacturers including Merck and GlaxoSmithKline at a discount, while state health departments implement the program and enroll medical providers.
A dose of MMR vaccine costs about $26 under the program compared to $95 in the private sector, according to a CDC price list. But ongoing cuts in federal health funding and personnel could jeopardize the effectiveness of this longstanding program that’s become a key cog in America’s disease-fighting machinery, according to disease experts and former CDC officials.
The Trump administration recently fired about 10,000 employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including significant reductions at CDC that are part of a massive downsizing of the federal workforce. HHS has said another 10,000 left voluntarily. The CDC employees who staff the children’s vaccine program were largely untouched, three sources familiar with the situation said. However, about 20 others were fired who comprised a unit that helped promote the program in communities at high risk of infectious disease, including during the current outbreak, these sources said. These employees helped bolster the confidence in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, they said.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-cuts-threaten-free-vaccine-program-kids-amid-measles-outbreak-2025-04-23/
= new reply since forum marked as read
G.O.P. makes war on America's children
republicons like to pretend they are the "family values" party -- but that's just another of G.O.P.s systematic lies.
The Trump Administration’s War on Children - ProPublica - April 23, 2025
"The administration is quietly putting America’s children at risk by cutting funds and manpower for investigating child abuse, enforcing child support payments, providing child care and much more...
"...The administration has laid off thousands of workers from coast to coast who had supervised education, child care, child support and child protective services systems, and it has blocked or delayed billions of dollars in funding for things like school meals and school safety.
"These stark reductions have been centered in little-known children’s services offices housed within behemoth agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice, offices with names like the Children’s Bureau, the Office of Family Assistance and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In part because of their obscurity, the slashing has gone relatively overlooked..."
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse
Right? you bloated fraudster 
