INDIANAPOLIS — Federal funding cuts directed by the Trump Administration are impacting organizations nationwide, including health agencies in Indiana. WRTV talked to an organization worried about how the cuts might impact their statewide efforts to get vaccination rates up.
For years, the Indiana Immunization Coalition has provided health care for Hoosiers, including free immunizations, with the help of federal funds they’ve received since the pandemic.
“Since 2020 we have vaccinated close to 100,000 Hoosiers,” said Sara Dillard, Communications Director for the non-profit. “We provide all CDC-recommended vaccines at no cost.”
Dillard told WRTV the coalition also helps health departments, schools, rural communities, and more hold vaccine clinics, education, and advocacy.
Now she’s concerned about what the cuts might mean for these programs.
“It makes up, you know, roughly 75% of our budget, you know, and that's a huge cut. So, unfortunately, we're going to have to begin to make serious, detrimental decisions,” Dillard said. “So we will have to find a way to operate with just 25% of our funding."
Last year, the coalition received $3.5 million from the Indiana Department of Health through CDC grant funding.
However, in March, the Trump Administration cancelled nearly $40 million in COVID-era funding from the CDC granted to the state health department.
“So, people think, well COVID is over. Why do you need this money? Because it's about more than COVID, you know. It's about making sure that our community is protected,” Dillard explained.
The coalition isn’t the only one thinking about the cuts’ impacts.
“Right now, we're not experiencing any direct fund and that direct effects of the federal funding that's being paused and stopped and slowed, we'll probably likely maybe see some trickle-down effects,” said Jason Lemaster, the administrator at the Hamilton County Health Department.
He told WRTV they are waiting to see what those effects will be.
The cuts come at a time when local health agencies are trying to help get vaccination rates up statewide, after they fell during the Pandemic amid vaccine hesitancy.
“In order to ensure community immunity, we need 92%, 90 to 95% of everybody to be vaccinated,” Dillard told WRTV. “Now, if we are removing one of the ways to make it easier for parents to protect their children, you know, and their loved ones, that's going to really start having negative impacts on society as a whole.”
This already comes as the nation deals with a measles outbreak that’s reached some parts of Indiana.
“It's so contagious that if you had a room of 10 people that were unvaccinated, nine of them are going to get the virus,” Lemaster explained.
Without the help of efforts to help make it easier to protect communities against these kinds of outbreaks, Dillard is worried about the future.
“I anticipate more people could get sick,” she said. “I cannot stress it enough, an investment in public health is not only an investment in our economy, but there's also an investment in the future success of our children,” added Dillard.
The Marion County Health Department is also set to lose some federal funding for some of its immunization efforts.
They told WRTV it will not impact the department's direct immunization services for local Hoosiers, and they will continue to advocate for the resources needed to ensure public health remains strong in the county.
The Indiana Department of Health also said:
"It’s estimated that the funding loss will impact specific vendor contracts, and some state positions and contractors tied to those funding sources. IDOH is working to minimize the effect this funding change will have on services to Hoosiers."
