From the Office of Congressman Andy Harris:
I hope you’ve been following the evolution of the conversation that Congressman Andy Harris had with CDC Director Tom Frieden during a House Appropriations hearing this week. Since the video was posted Wednesday, over 61,000 people have watched the back and forth. Also, this morning the Washington Post Fact Checker gave Congressman Harris the seal of approval for his Mr. Smith goes to Washington exchange. All of this attention focuses on the Administration’s misleading claim that vaccines for Maryland children will be cut because of the sequester.
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You can also check out the initial press release here
Fact check from the Washington Post:
Sequester Spin: The White House’s Vaccine Statistics
Glenn Kessler
“On the face of it, it looks suspicious. In the White House’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal, the administration had sought a $58 million cut in funding for the Section 317 Immunization Program…
“Yet, in raising the alarm about the sequester, the administration has highlighted the decline in vaccinations that it claims would result from sequestration. The White House Web site displays an interactive map, which when you click on Maryland, it declares: ‘2,050 fewer children will get vaccines for diseases like measles and whopping cough.’ It’s even worse for Virginia: 3,530 children would supposedly be affected.
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“We remain disturbed at how vague and fuzzy estimates keep getting turned into hard facts by the administration. This is a grant program, meaning that the recipients (which also rely on other funding) might be able to make adjustments to accommodate the shortfall in funds. The initial sequester is only for the remaining seven months of the year, so estimates–apparently based on many of the shots a child would receive in their lifetime–are open to interpretation.”
>>> For the record, the WH’s claim that 2,050 fewer children in MD will get vaccines is still up on their website. I wonder how long this false claim will stay up? <<<
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