By LAURA UNGAR, Related Press
Federal well being officers stated Tuesday they’re pulling again $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and native public well being departments and different well being organizations all through the nation.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies stated in an announcement.
The assertion stated the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention expects to get better the cash starting 30 days after termination notices, which started being despatched out on Monday.
Officers stated the cash was largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and international initiatives in addition to neighborhood well being employees responding to COVID and a program established in 2021 to deal with COVID well being disparities amongst high-risk and underserved sufferers, together with these in minority populations. The transfer was first reported by NBC Information.
Lori Freeman, CEO of the Nationwide Affiliation of County & Metropolis Well being Officers, stated a lot of the funding was set to finish quickly anyway. “It’s ending in the next six months,” she stated. “There’s no reason — why rescind it now? It’s just cruel and unusual behavior.”
In a associated transfer, greater than two dozen COVID-related analysis grants funded by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being have been canceled. Earlier this month, the Trump administration shut down ordering from covidtest.gov, the positioning the place Individuals may have COVID-19 checks delivered to their mailboxes for no cost.
Though the COVID federal public well being emergency has ended, the virus continues to be killing Individuals: 458 individuals per week on common have died from COVID over the previous 4 weeks, in accordance with CDC knowledge.
HHS wouldn’t present many particulars about how the federal authorities expects to get better the cash from what it known as “impacted recipients.” However HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon stated in an e mail: “The $11.4 billion is undisbursed funds remaining.”
Freeman stated her understanding is that state well being departments already had the COVID cash.
“The funding was authorized by Congress, was appropriated by Congress, and it was out the door, basically, into the hands of the grantees” — states, she stated, which determine the best way to distribute it regionally.
A number of the COVID cash is used to deal with different public well being points, Freeman added. For instance, wastewater surveillance that started throughout COVID grew to become vital for detecting different ailments, too.
“It was being used in significant ways to track flu and patterns of new disease and emerging diseases — and even more recently with the measles outbreak,” Freeman stated.
Beneath each the primary Trump administration and the Biden administration, billions of {dollars} was allotted for COVID response by laws, together with a COVID aid invoice and the American Rescue Plan Act.
At this level, it’s unclear precisely how well being departments shall be affected by the pullback of funds. However some have been beginning to take a look at what it’d imply for them. In Washington state, for instance, well being officers have been notified that greater than $125 million in COVID-related funding has been instantly terminated. They’re “assessing the impact” of the actions, they stated.
In Los Angeles County, well being officers stated they might lose greater than $80 million in core funding for vaccinations and different companies. “Much of this funding supports disease surveillance, public health lab services, outbreak investigations, infection control activities at healthcare facilities and data transparency,” a division official wrote in an e mail.
Related Press reporters Mike Stobbe in New York, JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, Carla Okay. Johnson in Seattle and Amanda Seitz in Washington, D.C. contributed to this story.
The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Instructional Media Group and the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis. The AP is solely accountable for all content material.
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