NIH Cuts Funding for “Vaccine Hesitancy” Research
- by Rishma Parpia
- Published
- Vaccines
Certain areas of research funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is being reduced or discontinued with the justification that these areas no longer align with the agency’s current priorities. One of the areas in which funding will be cut is millions of dollars in NIH grants for studying vaccine hesitancy and strategies for persuading more Americans to vaccinate and improve vaccination rates.1
Recent reports indicate that over 40 grants related to vaccine hesitancy have been cancelled, with speculation that research on mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines could be the next area to experience cuts. National Public Radio (NPR) reported obtaining this information about the changes from two NIH staff members and one person familiar with the agency’s operations, who requested anonymity due to restrictions on speaking publicly. NPR also mentioned reviewing e-mails and documents provided by these sources.2
An e-mail shared among NIH leadership outlined a list of grants set to be terminated, along with instructions on the specific language to be used in the notification letters. The email stated:
It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focuses gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and/or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment.3
Researchers Reporting Cuts to Their NIH Grants
Denis Nash, PhD, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, whose grant appears on the termination list but has not yet received an official notice, states that the cut will impact his research on developing vaccine messaging strategies for individuals with mental health disorders and on studying barriers to vaccination uptake like “misinformation” and “disinformation.” He said:
Ceasing to support research on the uptake of safe and effective vaccines does not eliminate the underlying challenges related to low vaccine uptake—it exacerbates them.4
Delesha Carpenter, PhD, a professor at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has received an NIH grant for the past three years to study coronavirus vaccine hesitancy, in collaboration with partners at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of South Carolina. She has been preparing for the possibility that her research grant will be terminated. She stated:
If we take away research on vaccine hesitancy, we’re also going to be taking away the ability to provide people with the best information about whether the vaccine is in their best interest.5
Thomas Carpino, an epidemiology graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, found that the $48,974 training grant funding for his PhD research on monkeypox among men who have sex with men is being canceled. Although Carpino has already defended his thesis and secured a postdoctoral position, he said he will require alternative funding to complete his study. “The grant was “to train the next generation of public health scientists. They’re sending a very strong message to anyone who’s interested in pursuing these research topics,” he said.6
The list of grant cancellations also targets grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Many of these grants focus on encouraging vaccine acceptance among racial minority populations or exploring the reasons behind why parents have doubts about or do not intend to give their children early childhood and adolescent vaccinations.7
In some grants supporting efforts to model disease outbreaks, “vaccine hesitancy” is one of several factors considered in the models. It is uncertain whether these grants will be completely terminated or altered to exclude vaccine hesitancy. Other grants, such as one focused on studying HIV infections in adolescents, will not be fully discontinued but subprojects related to vaccine hesitancy will be cut.8
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