The Trump administration announced around $11 billion in cuts to COVID-19 related grants nationwide on March 25.
The Minnesota Department of Health said it is losing over $200 million in federal grant money that funded the state’s COVID-19 response, KSTP reported. This affects organizations and providers across the state, including the Minneapolis Health Department, M Health Fairview and Neighborhood HealthSource.
The Minneapolis Health Department announced in a press release that this decision will limit the city’s support of vaccine clinics, immunization education and partnerships with other community organizers.
The city has contracts with M Health Fairview, Odam Medical Clinic and Neighborhood HealthSource (NHS), who were all notified on March 26 that all vaccine work is to stop immediately.
“The impact on our community is substantial. We are canceling five free vaccine clinics scheduled for April, and the future of our vaccine services in underserved communities is uncertain,” Minneapolis Health Department Commissioner Damōn Chaplin said in the release. “Decisions at the federal level threaten public health now and in the future.”
M Health Fairview said in a statement that vaccines remain the best way to protect people and will continue to find ways to make vaccines affordable to all.
“While the decision to eliminate these grant programs makes this work more difficult, we are committed to finding ways to extend care beyond traditional health care settings to best meet peoples’ needs and keep our community free from illness,” an M Health Fairview spokesperson said.
The M Health Fairview website said over the past three years, about 70,000 COVID-19 vaccinations were delivered to more than 1,800 clinics across Minnesota.
Steven Knutson, the NHS executive director, said he was frustrated by the lack of advance notice, but added that NHS has received four grant cancellations since the announcement. Anoka County and Minneapolis had awarded NHS grants to cover free vaccination clinics before they were canceled.
“We had to front-end load the costs for all of those clinics up front. We had to order all the vaccines. We had to hire the staff. We had to have all the supplies we paid for out of our bottom line. And then we would slowly get that reimbursed for each event as we held them,” Knutson said.
Now that the money was canceled, Knutson said they are out of all costs as the money was spent upfront. He added they will not receive reimbursement, which he said is an insult to the injury.
There are 14 federally qualified health centers in the Twin Cities area where people with limited financial resources get vaccinated, Knutson said. NHS specifically has four clinics nearby, with one in North Minneapolis, two in Northeast Minneapolis and one in Coon Rapids.
Knutson admitted that while there is no alternative plan or funding secured yet, NHS is waiting to find out more information before canceling any more upcoming vaccine clinics.
“I know a lot of the people that we serve have a lot going on in their life. Health care might be number 86 on their daily list of things to worry about,” Knutson said. “We make it a lot easier for them to get the care they need, whether it’s a vaccination (or) whether it’s other preventive care service.”
