Federal cuts halt Missouri rural vaccine education amid rising measles cases

A project aimed at helping rural healthcare providers communicate with patients about vaccines, recently came to a halt following spending cuts at the federal level.

In March, the Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA) said it was notified that $1 million in federal grant funding for its vaccination education program would be cut off, effective immediately. MRHA Director of Education and Engagement Rachel Hassani said it was shocking.

"We have seen first-hand that rural providers face really unique barriers and rural Missourians have a gap in access to care," Hassani said. "These sorts of cuts just increase that disparity."

She added some in rural areas may not have access to healthcare information on various topics, such as vaccines. The program intended to help close this gap by providing healthcare professionals with the tools they needed to discuss vaccines with patients.

"This project would have allowed them [providers] to battle misinformation and vaccine hesitancy that has really permeated the community," Hassani said.

According to MRHA leaders, the federal funds were distributed to the group through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The group said it was a multi-year contract totaling $3 million.

Hassani said funds were first awarded to MRHA in the fall of 2022 and were set to expire in June of 2025. She said the group still had $1 million in funds remaining when the grant was terminated.

"We should have had about another quarter to finish this project, which we've been working on for several years," Hassani said.

Hassani said MRHA spent the last two years studying what rural providers need in order to best support their communities. During their research, she said organizers surveyed over 147 rural healthcare providers across the state.

In doing so, they found that rural Missouri residents are about two-times more likely to believe vaccines are unsafe, compared to more populated areas. Additionally, 42% of healthcare professionals surveyed had concerns about addressing vaccine hesitancy.

Hassani said the group was just weeks away from launching their final education campaign and distributing information to providers, when funding was terminated.

"Essentially, what that means is all of these resources that we've put together and all of the research we've done is just sitting on the backburner now," Hassani said. "It feels like an incredible waste of time and resources and taxpayer dollars that have already been invested in this project that we're not going to be able to launch."

Although the program was initially focused on Covid-19 and Flu vaccine hesitancy, Hassani said the research could apply to all vaccines, including the MMR vaccine. The program's cancellation comes as measles cases surge in the U.S. At least three cases have been confirmed in Missouri as of Thursday.

Amid the uptick, data shows the number of kids in Missouri receiving the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine has been on the decline. According to DHSS, MMR vaccination rates among kindergartners at public schools dropped 4% from 2019 to 2024.

In 2019-2020, 94.9% of children were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella. In 2023-2024, only 90.9% were.

At private schools, the drop-off was even steeper, with 85.4% of kindergartners receiving the MMR vaccine from 2019-2020. Whereas in 2019-2020, 91.5% were vaccinated.