Let’s Talk About the Vaccines for Children Program
The VFC program has saved millions of lives and has led to societal savings of $2.7 trillion!
As Aaron Siri and Danica Patrick try to take cheap shots at the Vaccines for Children program, let’s remember just what it does.
The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Act was part of Bill Clinton’s Childhood Immunization Initiative in 1993, and it helped provide free vaccines to many children.
“Such failures were reviewed in March 1988 at a special hearing of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education chaired by Senator Bumpers. Witnesses stated that President Reagan’s budget request included funding sufficient only to provide the same number of doses of vaccine as were purchased in the previous year, and as a result of the shortfalls in the proposed federal funding level, 32 states would not receive sufficient public health grant funds to cover the increased cost of vaccines.”
The Vaccines for Children Program: A Solution to a Complex Challenge
And if you are wondering about the timing, yes, the Vaccines for Children Act was proposed after the large measles epidemics of the late 1980s and early 1990s that killed over 100 children.
Let’s Talk About the Vaccines for Children Program
Specifically, the Vaccines for Children program provides vaccines for children who are uninsured, underinsured, American Indian/Alaska Native, or on Medicaid or CHIP, etc.
And yes, they are the same vaccines that kids with insurance get, but are free (except for an administration fee that your doctor or clinic might charge) because the “CDC buys vaccines at a discount and distributes them to grantees—i.e., state health departments and certain local and territorial public health agencies—which in turn distribute them at no charge to those private physicians’ offices and public health clinics registered as VFC providers.”
Oh, and can you guess who helped get the Vaccines for Children Act passed?
That’s right!
Sen. Ted Kennedy, Chair of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, with Rep. Henry Waxman, helped get the Vaccines for Children Act passed.
It, of course, expanded on the Section 317 Immunization Grant Program and Vaccination Assistance Act of 1962 of President John F. Kennedy.
And now we have RFK Jr. as Secretary of HHS…
The Impact of the Vaccines for Children Program
But instead of looking at the impact of RFK Jr. and his anti-vaccine agenda, let’s take a look at the impact of the Vaccines for Children program, which his disciples have started to attack.
It is without question that vaccines have saved thousands of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths and that a great many of those vaccines were given because they were available through the Vaccines for Children program.
“Among children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths, resulting in direct savings of $540 billion and societal savings of $2.7 trillion.”
Health and Economic Benefits of Routine Childhood Immunizations in the Era of the Vaccines for Children Program — United States, 1994–2023
Wow!
Let’s make sure Trump and RFK Jr. don’t get their hands on the VFC program…