An attack on flu vaccinations by a Houston City Council member has drawn fire from medical officials, as patients with influenza symptoms continue to fill emergency rooms across the country.The remarks do give us a good opportunity to look at the direct relationship that exists in certain contexts between the federal government and cities. Sometimes this relationship allows a city to bypass a state. This can be a useful strategy in a state like Texas that tends to not support these types of projects.
As the council considered a proposal Wednesday to accept $3.1 million in federal funding for childhood immunizations, Councilman Jack Christie voiced his opposition to the measure, apparently conflating it with flu vaccinations.
"I'm going to vote against this," Christie said before the 15-1 vote. "You don't die from the flu."
Christie backed down somewhat from his comment on Friday. What he meant to say, he said, was that "People should not die from the flu."
This read looks promising: Financing Immunizations in the United States.
Here's a map showing which states have the highest percentage of children who are fully immunized, and which are not. Guess where we are.
