Ottawa County Commissioners voted down an offer from Wayne State University to purchase data regarding the number of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) who have been vaccinated. During the July 18, 2023 Ottawa County Finance and Administration Committee Meeting, the committee was asked to approve and forward to the board of commissioners a contract with Wayne State University in the amount of $10,000 to assist in making public health buildings more accessible and sensory friendly for clinical care. Although the wording of the motion made it sound like a project that would provide benefits for people with disabilities, it became evident during the discussion that this contract intended to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rate among IDD residents and sell IDD resident data in exchange for Americans with Disability Association (ADA) compliant doors and sensory-friendly lights.
During the discussion, Commissioner Allison Miedema asked, “There is a description of services that talks about providing monthly data including aggregate numbers of people served, and so the number of people reporting disability, and number of COVID vaccines administered, number of flu shots administered, number of vaccines administered. How do these correlate?”
Commissioner Gretchen Cosby shared a similar concern, “Why would Wayne State want to know specifically about this population?” [] “Compliance rates also could be tracked with this information; whether or not this population is compliant with the vaccination schedule or not.”
It turns out that part of the proposed grant involved working towards achieving the MVP (Most Valuable Provider) designation through a collaboration between Autism Alliance of Michigan, Disability Rights Michigan, and Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute. Each of these entities received COVID Supplement IV grants to ensure greater equity and access to vaccination to people disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. This designation informs the public that the clinic is ADA friendly and implements site compliance and employee training. In addition, compliance involves the completion of a risk factor survey and monthly reports that include the number of people seen, number of people reporting a disability, number of COVID vaccines administered, flu shots administered, and other total vaccines administered.
Commissioner Rhodea discussed the MVP designation. “According to Wayne State University, it actually means two different things which are on two different sides of their same flyer. [] One is a Most Valuable Provider, but MVP also stands for Michigan Vaccination Partners.”
Marcia Mansaray from Community Mental Health responded to some concerns. “For us, this grant doesn’t compromise our values because we already promote vaccines, and we have a strong evidence base in general, that vaccines are safer than the diseases they have been designed to prevent. Now for every single person that is not the case, but as a population, and we do population-level health, the safety is very high for vaccines in general.” Later in the meeting she spoke of learning from the COVID pandemic. “More people died in some groups than other groups, but when it came to getting anti-virals, or other therapies to people, we also found, okay, so we’re not so great at getting things to everyone as quickly as possible.”
Several commissioners asked if it would be possible to just upgrade the doors and lighting without providing data? They asked for a price breakdown and asked if the grantor would be willing to change the contract to include the doors, and lighting, but not the data.
For example, Commissioner Miedema stated, “I think it’s honorable to fulfil the environment ask. [] The want is to change the environment for our people, but what I’m seeing, is that we’re collecting data, and it’s more focusing on the information of targeting people with disabilities and those with autism. [] Why the strings attached to this? It feels like it should just be a simple facility upgrade.”
Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea shed more light on the situation. “It appears that Wayne State received a $7 million grant to address equitable access to vaccines to Michigan residents disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I think we are seeing layer upon layer of grants going on here.” Commissioner Rhodea then read from a Wayne State University flyer, “The Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute at Wayne State University recently received a 3-year, $7 million grant to address this need in Michigan. Their team will join efforts with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Immunizations Division and the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), COVID-19 vaccination supplement for; supported through the Corona Virus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and the American Rescue Plan Act.”
Chairman Moss summarized the situation. “This particular grant is being sold to us as related to ADA compliance. [] This is money trickling down through the federal government to the state government to local government and being used by Wayne State and the American Disability Institute to buy data. It is literally what they are doing, is buying our data. They say we will give you $10,000. Give us your data. Is it about ADA compliance? Well that’s a nice benefit that we should absolutely make a priority as soon as we can, but the goal of this project is to increase the number of vaccinated people. That is what it says on their website.”
In the end, the Ottawa County Commissioners did not blindly approve a grant based on a feel-good title. They did their research and discovered several intertwined additional purposes for this grant. Ultimately, they determined that it was better for the county to remain independent and not compromise the personal data of our vulnerable IDD population.