The Vaccines For Children (VFC) program is a federally funded program that provides vaccines at no cost to children who might not otherwise be vaccinated because of inability to pay. CDC buys vaccines at a discount and distributes them to grantees—i.e., state health departments and certain local and territorial public health agencies—which in turn distribute them at no charge to those private physicians' offices and public health clinics registered as VFC providers.

Children who are eligible* for VFC vaccines are entitled to receive those vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - (ACIP). ¹⁾

Funding for the VFC program is approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and allocated through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC buys vaccines at a discount and distributes them to grantees—i.e., state health departments and certain local and territorial public health agencies—which in turn distribute them at no charge to those private physicians' offices and public health clinics registered as VFC providers.

This site serves 3 main audiences:

- The parent or guardian of the child needing vaccines provided by the VFC who needs to know what the VFC offers them, how to find vaccines provided, and who to contact for answers to questions.

- The provider, whether currently enrolled or wants to know the incentives for joining the VFC program, what’s involved, how to order vaccines, and how costs and fees are handled.

- The awardee, with the largest role, that performs the paperwork; distributes vaccines; complies with changing state and federal regulations; manages the program; recruits and enrolls providers in the program; evaluates performance; controls, identifies, and differentiates fraud from abuse; provides quality assurance and improvement, conducts provider site visits; completes surveys; returns, replaces, or files credits for vaccines, etc.²⁾

The new budget, which still has to churn through Congress, also asks for an additional pot of $81.7 billion in mandatory — as opposed to discretionary — funding over five years for pandemic preparedness, including $28 billion for CDC to invest in infrastructure, surveillance, lab capacity, data systems and workforce.

CDC is also submitting a proposal for $25 billion over 10 years to establish mandatory funding for the Vaccines For Adults Program, which would provide millions of uninsured Americans with recommended immunizations.

Dara Lieberman, MPP, director of government relations at Trust For America’s Health, said that overall, proposed funding for CDC is not far off from what the CDC Coalition had urged. The coalition, which APHA helps lead, has asked Congress to approve “at least $11 billion” for CDC’s 2023 fiscal year.

Lieberman said that while the mandatory $81.7 billion in pandemic funding faces “significant political obstacles to getting across the finish line,” the proposal does speak to the urgency of investing in and modernizing public health.³⁾

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