In March, the Trump Administration announced it was cutting about $11 billion nationwide in grants for state health departments. The Administration said the funding was for COVID response and was no longer needed.
According to figures the state health department sent to MTPR, the state has returned a little over $28 million. That figure will grow as health officials are still sorting out the impact for two grants.
These grants fund a wide range of public health services. Montana Public Health Institute CEO Matt Kelley says much of this funding helps local public health departments put on vaccine clinics.
“You really have a couple different choices. One is you stop providing services, and the second is local and state tax dollars have to flow in in order to fill the gap. We’re probably seeing a mix of those things in different places.”
State health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt says the grant funding paid more than just vaccine clinics. Those funds are helping improve state laboratory capacity, which provides county health departments with testing for various diseases. They also pay to train new medical directors at local health departments and to educate public health workers how to better respond to communicable disease outbreaks, like measles.
Debby Robinson is the public health nurse in Granite County. She’s looking for ways to backfill money she lost for vaccine clinics.
“We’re looking at other grants that are corporate grants, foundational grants."
Robinson says she’ll find ways to do the same amount of work with less if she has to.
