The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pulling back $11.4 billion in funds allocated in response to the pandemic to state and community health departments, nongovernment organizations and international recipients, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday.
“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,” HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon said in a statement. “HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.“
HHS oversees 13 agencies, including the CDC, which is tasked with protecting the nation’s health. Notices began going out Monday, and awardees have 30 days to reconcile their expenditures. Figures are subject to change.
The funding slash comes on the heels of other cuts under new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including the canceling of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants for research into vaccine hesitancy, LGBTQ populations and supporting HIV prevention.
“Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary as their limited purpose has run out,” read notices of termination sent to grantees Monday and shared with NBC News.
The federal public health emergency ended May 11, 2023, but more than 1.2 million people in the United States have died from Covid, according to the CDC. Though infection has slowed and the disease has become milder, hundreds of people still die every week from Covid, and long Covid symptoms continue to cause debilitating medical problems in some cases.
The clawed-back funds were largely being used for Covid testing, vaccination, community health workers and initiatives to address Covid health disparities among high-risk and underserved populations, including racial and ethnic minority populations and rural communities, as well as global Covid projects, according to talking points CDC leadership emailed to agency departments Tuesday.
The CDC reviewed a list of HHS-provided Covid grants and cooperative agreements and identified the programs that were no longer needed, according to the talking points.
A list of projects for the rescinded funds was not immediately available.
In recent years, Covid funding had been used for other critical functions in state health departments, according to a CDC senior official who was not authorized to speak for the agency.
In a statement to NBC News, Kristina Iodice, a communications director for Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment, echoed the concern, noting cuts could affect more than just programs aimed at Covid.
“We are concerned that this sudden loss of federal funding threatens Colorado’s ability to track COVID-19 trends and other emerging diseases, modernize disease data systems, respond to outbreaks, and provide critical immunization access, outreach, and education—leaving communities more vulnerable to future public health crises,” Iodice said.
Nine state health departments confirmed they had received notice of the recalled funds.
Greg Flynn, media relations director for the Mississippi State Department of Health, said the state was “currently working to assess the potential impacts to our agency.” Charla Haley, public information officer for Utah’s Department of Health, said in an email, “We are currently evaluating impact.”
So far, HHS has made the deepest budget cuts governmentwide under the Trump administration’s efforts to radically slash federal funding, according to a tally listed on the Department of Government Efficiency’s website.
HHS also canceled $877 million in grants to the Texas Department of Health and $482 million to Florida’s Department of Health, among other cuts this week, according to DOGE’s website.
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