The Maryland Department of Health is terminating a website that allows residents to access their vaccination records and get reminders of future immunizations.
MDH says the change is due to the more than $220 million in cuts from coronavirus funding from the Trump administration rescinding grants. The funds were appropriated by Congress in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, Economic Security Act
“Hundreds of thousands of Marylanders used this service to track and access their immunization records immediately,” said MDH Secretary Dr. Meena Seshamani. “These federal funding cuts continue to force our hand to make harder choices about what services to provide to Marylanders."
Marylanders will still be able to access their records through their health care provider, their local health department or by completing a record request form.
However, those avenues may not be immediate. The record request process averages about two days.
Maryland spent about $300,000 a year on the MyIR website.
The termination comes as Texas is dealing with a measles outbreak and COVID-19 remains the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
In April, the Trump administration announced it was rescinding hundreds of millions of dollars from Maryland’s government, nonprofits and academic institutions.
“The United States Government spends too much money on programs, contracts, and grants that do not promote the interests of the American people,” President Donald Trump wrote in a February executive order titled Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending. “I therefore direct the heads of executive departments and agencies to take all appropriate actions to make public, to the maximum extent permitted by law and as the heads of agencies deem appropriate to promote the policies of my Administration, the complete details of every terminated program, cancelled contract, terminated grant, or any other discontinued obligation of Federal funds.”
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is suing the White House over the cuts.
“The Trump Administration’s reckless and unlawful termination of $11 billion in critical public health grants is a dangerous assault on our State’s ability to protect our residents when infectious diseases like the measles or bird flu are on the rise,” Brown said. “I am outraged that the president would cut this lifeline with zero warning, threatening to dismantle vital health services our communities depend on. I will fight with every legal tool available to reverse this indefensible decision before it costs Marylanders their lives.”
Twenty-two other attorneys general are joining Brown.
