JOHN YANG: The National Institutes of Health has terminated dozens of grants for scientific research projects related to vaccine use and hesitancy.

Researchers got written notices that their studies no longer aligned with the administration's priorities and that it is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focus gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment.

Dr. Sophia Newcomer was one of the researchers whose grant was canceled.

She's an associate professor at the University of Montana.

Her work focuses on access to health care in rural communities.

She spoke with Ali Rogin.

ALI ROGIN: Thank you so much for joining us.

What was this NIH grant funding?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER, University of Montana: My work focuses on figuring out ways we can improve vaccination services, particularly for rural families.

And so for this specific project that got cut, were working to develop tools to measure the quality of immunization services that children receive.

ALI ROGIN: So you were looking at the quality of immunization services.

This grant cut was about vaccine hesitancy specifically, they said.

How much of your research was looking at specifically at that issue of vaccine hesitancy?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: Sure.

So my project involved analyzing existing data on vaccinations across the U.S. and even though were only partway through our project, we already had some important findings.

And one of the things were finding is that when children in the U.S. fall behind our missing vaccines, a main issue are practical challenges to accessing high quality vaccination care.

So while we did see that some under vaccination in the U.S. might be due to parental hesitancy, practical challenges to accessing vaccines, such as having clinics nearby that you can access, having a regular medical home for your child, having regular medical insurance, are all also challenges in accessing vaccines in the US.

ALI ROGIN: We asked The Department of Health and Human Services about these cuts, and they said in a statement that the decision to vaccinate is a personal one and funding would better directed towards more urgent public health priorities.

What is your response to that?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: So it's sometimes said that vaccines don't save lives, vaccinations save lives.

We have safe and effective vaccine products, but we also need to make sure that we have the medical and public health infrastructure to ensure that high quality vaccination services are available in all corners of this country.

And high quality vaccination care looks like this.

All families, no matter where they live, should be able to access vaccinations in clinics in their communities.

These clinics need to be equipped with the right technology so that doctors and nurses can look at a patient's entire vaccination and medical history so that they know when to recommend the right vaccines at the right time.

We want every parent and every patient to be able to have thoughtful conversations with their care team about vaccines and to get their questions answered.

And finally, we need to be able to have the data to track and measure how we're doing with providing high quality vaccination care.

And many of the studies that got cut were working to address these goals.

ALI ROGIN: And as somebody who has worked a long time in applying for this grant, getting it, putting it to use, how did it make you feel when this was cut?

And also, what do you think the impact is going to be on additional efforts in the public health research community?

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: Sure.

Well, certainly I was shocked and surprised.

You know, I'm a researcher in a rural state.

We don't get a lot of funding for health research.

And certainly in rural areas of the country, there's a lot of health needs that need to be addressed and need to be studied.

And we need to have the resources to be working to improve health outcomes for rural families.

And, you know, right now is the time that we really need to focus on providing high quality vaccination services in the country.

I mean, we are dealing right now in the U.S. with more measles cases in three months than we had in all of last year, and we're seeing measles in more states.

And so now is really the time that we need to be making sure that everyone has access to vaccines and has all the components of high quality vaccination care.

ALI ROGIN: Dr. Sophia Newcomer at the University of Montana, thank you so much for joining us.

SOPHIA NEWCOMER: Thank you.