BRATTLEBORO — Federal health officials said last week they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations throughout 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. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The statement said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to recover the money beginning 30 days after termination notices, which began being sent out on Monday.
“The sudden termination this week of health-related federal grants to states across the country is impacting two departments in the Agency of Human Services — the Department of Health and the Department of Mental Health,” according to a statement from the Vermont Agency of Human Services.
The funds to Vermont total over $6.9 million, including over $5 million to support vaccine programs.
“While these particular grants began during the response to the pandemic, they continued to support Health Department work beyond the pandemic to detect and prevent the spread of infectious disease, ensure Vermonters can access vaccines, help address health disparities among the populations and communities we serve, and more,” says the AHS statement. “If these cuts stand, there is no doubt that they will negatively impact public health in our state. ”
Federal officials said the money was largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and global projects as well as community health workers responding to COVID and a program established in 2021 to address COVID health disparities among high-risk and underserved patients, including those in minority populations.
Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County & City Health Officials, told the Associated Press much of the funding was set to end soon anyway.
“It’s ending in the next six months,” she said. “There’s no reason — why rescind it now? It’s just cruel and unusual behavior.”
“Although Brattleboro Memorial Hospital does not directly receive federal COVID-related funds,” said Gina Pattison, spokeswoman, “we will still feel the impact. For example, these funds have supported vaccine programs. When individuals do not get vaccinated, they are at a higher risk of illness, which can lead to costly healthcare services, including emergency room visits and inpatient care. Preventative initiatives like vaccine programs help promote community health, ultimately reducing the overall cost of care.”
Kate Bryan, director of development and community relations at Battenkill Valley Health Center in Arlington, said while the funding cut may not directly affect BVHC’s funding, it will affect some of its partners.
“Despite these uncertain times, we remain dedicated to delivering high-quality care to our patients and supporting them in ways that promote their overall health and well-being,” said Bryan.
A spokeswoman from Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend had no comment at this time.
The clawback of funds is on top of mass terminations and resignations after $25,000 buyouts were offered to most of the employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, now led by vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
In a related move, more than two dozen COVID-related research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health have been canceled, reported the AP. Earlier this month, the Trump administration shut down ordering from covidtest.gov, the site where Americans could have COVID-19 tests delivered to their mailboxes for no charge.
Although the COVID federal public health emergency has ended, the virus is still killing Americans: 458 people per week on average have died from COVID over the past four weeks, according to CDC data.
HHS wouldn’t provide many details to the AP about how the federal government expects to recover the money from what it called “impacted recipients.”
“The $11.4 billion is undisbursed funds remaining,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon wrote in an email.
In Vermont, the Department of Mental Health said funding losses could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“These funds have supported important mental health services, including community-based support, crisis response, and access to care for vulnerable Vermonters,” says the statement from the Vermont Agency of Human Services. “Programs that help young people with serious mental health conditions, including team-based early treatment for psychosis, are among those losing funding. While these grants were always intended as temporary, the demand for mental health services remains high, and this loss of funding will have consequences. ”
Both departments are actively working to assess the full implications of these cuts, stated AHS.
“As always, we remain committed to doing everything we can to continue protecting Vermonters and providing services with the resources available.”
“The funding was authorized by Congress, was appropriated by Congress, and it was out the door, basically, into the hands of the grantees,” Freeman told the AP.
“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 said.
In nearby New Hampshire, the CDC ordered the Granite State to return $80 million.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte told WMUR-TV she asked the Trump administration to reconsider the cut but was told it will not be reversed.
“As I understand it, at the federal level, they are saying these were pandemic funds, they were only to be temporary, and so the pandemic has concluded, and we’re going to claw them back,” Ayotte said.
She said she disagrees with the decision to cut off the funding so abruptly.
“I mean, of course, I think it is much easier for states when, if a resource has been appropriated for a period, that at least we fulfill that period,” she said.
In Washington state, health officials were notified that more than $125 million in COVID-related funding has been immediately terminated.
In Los Angeles County, health officials said they could lose more than $45 million in core funding for vaccinations and other services, including disease surveillance, public health lab services, outbreak investigations, and infection control activities at healthcare facilities.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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