KY state and local health departments could lose $148 million for vaccines, treatment
Kentucky officials said recently-announced federal cuts to state and local health departments could mean the loss of $148 million.
That federal grant monies pay for a host of services including vaccinations, staffing to 988 mental health crisis lines and health care for veterans, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Gov. Andy Beshear has already pledged to fight the claw back of the federal funds that was part of a $11 billion cut to state and community health agencies announced Wednesday.
The cuts are part of a much-wider trimming of federal spending under President Donald Trump’s administration and administered by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“These contracts can only be terminated for cause — which means someone did something wrong,” Beshear said Thursday. “And they are trying to define cause as the pandemic is over. That’s not a legal argument. If we have to go to court, we will.”
Beshear added it was an “unlawful cancellation and we will challenge it.”
The federal agency said it was pulling back the grants, which have already been awarded, because COVID is now over.
“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,” according to a termination notice federal health officials released last week.
Money could affect vaccines, addiction services
The money flows through the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and goes to local health departments and community mental health organizations, cabinet officials said.
It was intended to beef up state and local resources related to the COVID pandemic, but it also pays for other outreach services.
If the cuts go through, the following impacts could be felt across several different public health initiatives, state officials said.:
- The loss in funding will lead to delays in some daily vaccine order and delivery transactions, program projects, and bi-annual provider re-enrollments.
This will prevent mobile vaccination services from reaching rural and under-served areas, reducing vaccine access and ending efforts to improve vaccine confidence through educational outreach through the Kentucky Primary Care Association.
Severely impact staffing for community health workers who work to get COVID and other vaccines to under-served communities.
Purple Star programs that help veterans.
Staffing to 988 emergency call centers.
Delivery of addiction treatment services.
Staffing to support youth drop in centers.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 11:42 AM.
