Trump cuts more than $30M in Utah childhood immunization funding
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Utah is losing nearly $31 million in childhood immunization and vaccination funding as part of broader cancellations of pandemic-era federal public health spending, per government data.
Why it matters: Utah's vaccination rates already are far below the 95% needed for herd immunity against highly contagious illnesses like measles and whooping cough.
- CDC data shows more than 9% of the state's kindergarteners obtained immunization waivers in 2023 — the third highest rate in the country.
- Measles is now spreading in several parts of the country, and two children in Texas have died after contracting the illness.
Driving the news: A 42-page U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) document lists a sweeping variety of recently terminated public health grants, with about six pages dedicated specifically to awards for "immunization and vaccines for children."
Follow the money: Of those grants, Utah has lost $30.8 million of $66.4 million that health agencies were originally granted. That's part of more than $2 billion cut from $6.6 billion that was previously awarded.
- Some other terminated grants are also related to childhood vaccination, including some funding vaccine hesitancy research.
What they're saying: "We're talking about contractors losing their contracts and not being able to get paid, people who were working on vaccination programs not there anymore, and all of the supporting infrastructure that these funds provided evaporated in an instant," says Josh Michaud, associate director for global health policy at health policy research and news organization KFF.
- Yes, but: States also get separate federal money for immunization efforts through programs like Vaccines for Children, Michaud notes — though many were counting on these grants as well.
The big picture: The childhood vaccination cuts are part of a Trump administration effort to claw back billions of dollars in federal public health grants stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- "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 spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a late March statement.
- The White House is also cutting funding to other vaccination efforts and organizations, including Gavi, an international group whose work has saved millions of children's lives.
What we're watching: 23 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit on April 1 over the HHS grant cancellations, arguing the funding is essential for a wide range of public health needs.
- Utah is not among the states joining the lawsuit.