Vaccination & 'health disparities' work impacted as RFK Jr curtails CDC anti-disease programs
With the Trump administration telling local health officials they can no longer spend grant funds that were previously awarded, Pima County is looking at cutting more than 20 jobs and $2.46 million remaining in pandemic-era programs that worked to increase vaccination rates and reduce disparities in health outcomes.
No staff have yet been informed they're being laid off, and there are some open jobs in the Health Department that those who are in positions being closed may be able to apply for, county sources said. But top county officials are making plans for layoffs, the Sentinel was told.
Impacted will be eight grant-funded workers who addressed health disparities, along with 14 who worked on vaccine clinics and health outreach and three contracted licensed practical nurses for a program that had been set to sunset at the end of June, County Administrator Jan Lesher said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is abruptly telling local health officials around the country to stop spending about $11.4 billion that was allocated in response to the COVID pandemic.
About $2.46 million that had been awarded to the county but not yet received is now "inaccessible," Lesher told the Sentinel.
In emails sent to the Health Department staff, PCDH Director Theresa Cullen said that the county had "received notice of immediate termination of funding for our Health Disparities grant" to start the week, and on Wednesday "we were also notified this afternoon of the loss of funding for the Vaccine Equity Program."
The vaccination program was "originally scheduled to end this upcoming June" but "we have begun planning now for the dissolution process," she wrote.
While 14 staffers have been "fully funded" through that program, "many additional staff" were partly paid from those funds, Cullen wrote.
"It appears that potential cuts are focused on grant funding tied specifically to COVID-19 response efforts and other grants may be impacted," she said.
Cullen wrote that the county is planning to pay staffers whose positions are being defunded for at least two weeks, with classified staff who fall under the county's merit rules entitled to 30 days of pay after receiving a layoff notice.
In the most recent "vacancy report" posted by county officials, the Health Department had 489 positions, with 96 of them vacant as of Dec. 15, 2024. A transition to the new financial platform Workday has curtailed updates on vacancies, Lesher said.
The two affected local programs were part of a "national initiative to address COVID-19 health disparities" and a "vaccine equity grant," she said.
The health disparities funding was $6,510,503 that was set to pay for county work through May 30, 2026, she said.
"This shutdown leaves approximately $903,000 in remaining funds inaccessible," Lesher said. "This program provided health education, care kit distribution, insurance enrollment assistance, and support for initiatives such as Narcan education and distribution, menstrual product distribution and extreme heat response."
"The vaccine equity grant was for $9,559,616. This week's termination leaves about $1,559,161 in remaining funds that are not accessible," she said.
"This program assists with vaccine clinics, health education, and health outreach, particularly in rural communities," the county administrator said, noting there were "25 upcoming events, including 18 vaccine clinics are being canceled. The program included a resource referral system, development, and distribution of health education materials."
Lesher noted that the "whip-sawing around" taking place, with some grants being cut retroactively, is raising significant logistical issues as county officials work to abide by the changes ordered by the feds.
While it's not unusual for certain positions that are funded by grants to term out as those programs are completed, the cancellation of contracts before a planned wind-down creates extra work, she said.
Lesher said officials will provide those staffers who'll lose positions with the opportunity to be "first in line" for other county jobs.
Shoving good employees out the door is "not how you treat people" she said. "We've always looked out for our people who have been with the county for a long time" and are reliable staffers, she said.
Trump administration officials touted the cuts to health programs this week.
"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," Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said of this week's clawbacks. "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, which includes the CDC, is headed by new Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is among the officials in the new Trump administration who have for years spread falsehoods about immunizations, including measles shots and coronavirus vaccines.
In a 2021 book, he wrote that measles outbreaks had been "fabricated" to scare parents into vaccinating their children. Kennedy has repeatedly spread false claims that vaccinations are connected to autism.
"Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary as their limited purpose has run out," said notices of grant termination sent to local officials around the country.
According to CDC data, more than 1.2 million Americans died from COVID, with hundreds more still dying each week, and "long COVID" symptoms severely limiting the lives of many who survive infections.