On the evening of March 22, Alison Segar said she received an email from the Vermont Department of Health. It confirmed the department would partner with Segar鈥檚 organization on multilingual, educational videos about vaccines.
Segar, who leads the Vermont Language Justice Project, said the plan was to focus on seasonal vaccines, adult vaccines, adolescent vaccines, and vaccines for babies and toddlers.
But then the next morning, Segar got a follow-up phone call. The Vermont Department of Health had just lost the grant funding it intended to use for the videos 鈥� which came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The . That included about $7 million from the Vermont Department of Health.
鈥淪o that literally happened within a 12-hour period, being told that we're going to do this stuff, and then being told that it wasn't going to be possible,鈥� Segar said. 鈥淚t's really, really concerning, because it will always affect the most vulnerable people first, these cuts, always.鈥�
The Vermont Language Justice Project began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to the state of Vermont having no method for reaching communities with diverse language needs.
In June 2020, the and identified language barriers as a potential contributing factor. Once a vaccine became available, in 2021, fewer Vermonters of color were initially getting immunized compared to white Vermonters.
But that following from community partners like the Vermont Language Justice Project, whose work the Vermont Department of Health helped fund with grants from the CDC.
And Segar said she鈥檚 now wondering how this is all going to work.
鈥淭he future of how we relate with the Vermont Department of Health in producing timely information that is scientifically and factually based is really up in the air,鈥� she said.
The bulk of the CDC money retracted from the Health Department 鈥� just over $5 million 鈥� had been dedicated to improving vaccine access for underserved populations over the next couple years.
鈥淎 lot of people are concerned that it's impacting the actual supply of vaccines and how available they'll be, and it is not impacting that,鈥� said Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine. 鈥淚t's really impacting some of the more progressive things we're trying to do with vaccines.鈥�
Things like the multilingual, educational videos with the Vermont Language Justice Project, and working with pediatricians to set up vaccine clinics outside regular office hours.
鈥淭hese things can have real impacts,鈥� Levine said. 鈥淭here are parts of our population that don't have the same access as we might have imagined, and that we have to be more creative with and work with more closely so that they actually can benefit from the vaccine.鈥�
The commissioner added that the Health Department is currently analyzing how to shift its work around.
鈥淥ur hope is that we鈥檙e not going to have very many people at the department whose ability to work is impacted by this cut,鈥� he said.
While it was likely 鈥渋mpossible to spare everybody,鈥� Levine said, any job losses would be in the "single digit numbers," among a staff of 600.
鈥淎nd we certainly, we, I can candidly say, can be far more 鈥� communicate far better with lead time, with some element of courtesy and respect and empathy, as opposed to what happened here, which was basically, you received an email saying this money is not coming your way,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the state level, we're not going to be operating that way.鈥�
This week, over the CDC funding cuts.
