It’s disturbing to compare what Washington is spending its money on – $700 billion to bail out Wall Street investment firms, $3 trillion on the Iraq War – with what it’s not spending money on – vaccines for children.

Congress finally passed the enormous bailout package last week, not because enough lawmakers were convinced of its merits, but because of pork barrel projects added into the bill – tax breaks for movie and television producers worth $478 million, a $33 million tax break for companies that invest in American Samoa and a $109 million provision that will benefit builders of NASCAR tracks.

What was making news in Maine last week, however, was the effect reductions in funding from the Centers for Disease Control will have on the Maine Immunization Program. The CDC’s budget for immunizations has dropped from $307 million last year to $273 million this year. In Maine, that translates into a reduction from $2.5 million to $2 million.

And, state health officials say that means the state will stop providing free vaccines for all children. The only children who will continue to receive them are those who qualify for MaineCare or American Indians, who get free vaccines under another state program. The state will provide vaccines for 45 percent of children, down from 100 percent just three years ago.

The standard vaccines for children, covering measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, chickenpox and tetanus, cost about $1,600. That cost will now be picked up by insurance companies, which will pass it on to the rest of us, and doctors, who will be facing an additional overhead expense in purchasing the vaccines.

“The bottom line of what’s happening is there are a lot more barriers,” said Maine Public Health Director Dora Mills.

That trend is troubling in a state where rates of children getting vaccines were already decreasing. In recent years, reports linking vaccines to autism have made some parents more worried about getting vaccines than not getting them, despite the fact that the CDC maintains that the majority of evidence indicates there is no link between the two.

While children are still required to get basic vaccines to be admitted to school, state officials say there are indications more people are using a loophole that allows parents to opt out of getting vaccines for philosophical reasons. Mills is worried other parents will delay vaccinations for their children or get only the ones required for school.

The end result would be a greater risk for outbreaks of mumps, measles and whooping cough, and the cost could be much greater than what the state and federal government are now spending on these vaccines.

The federal and state government need to restore funding to essential programs like these and eliminate the funding for the pork barrel projects that seem to get attached to any spending bill this country actually needs.

Brendan Moran, editor