Feds cut $226M in Minnesota aid for COVID public health response

Minnesota health officials were evaluating cuts to the state’s COVID-19 and broader public health response programs Wednesday, after learning that the federal government had immediately frozen $226 million in support.

The cuts were “sudden and unexpected ... and unprecedented” for a federal agency that usually gives notice of funding reductions so state agencies can adjust, said state Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham in a written statement.

“It will take time to figure out all of the impacts of this action, but these cuts are a tremendous loss — made worse by the uncertainty and chaos that our federal partners have introduced into this process," she said.

In an interview, Cunningham said the funding may have been to COVID initiatives by name, but supported a broader array of public health programs, including efforts to restore childhood vaccinations when measles is a rising threat.

Contractors have been notified to stop work, and the health department is contemplating staff reductions as well, she said.

“There is no pot of money or reserve fund at our agency, nor within the state, that can absorb a cut of $200-plus million dollars,” she added.

The cuts are part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to reallocate federal spending to tax cuts and other priorities. In all, $11 billion in federal support for public health agencies was pulled back 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,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Minnesota has continued to conduct surveillance and lab testing of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, an infectious disease that has persisted since the pandemic was declared over in 2023.

COVID wasn’t as widespread this winter as it was during pandemic peaks, or when it emerged five years ago. But since Sept. 1, the infectious disease has been responsible for 5,352 hospitalizations and 506 deaths in the state, mostly among Minnesotans 65 and older, according to a state situation update.

Cunningham said she couldn’t be specific about programs being cut, because the health department is hastily reviewing them to see which ones were exclusively funded by these grants and which ones had other support.

M Health Fairview received a stop-work notification from the state, because federal funding is no longer available to support its COVID vaccination clinics for vulnerable Minnesotans who don’t seek health care at traditional clinics. The Minneapolis-based provider had used the funding to provide 1,800 community clinics and provide nearly 70,000 vaccinations.

“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,” M Health Fairview said in a written statement.

Gov. Tim Walz criticized the cuts during a press conference in which he outlined Minnesota’s efforts to reduce the spread of H5N1 influenza among poultry and dairy farms. Cutting public health funding at a time of rising measles cases is as illogical as recent cuts to farm-to-school meal programs when the administration wants children to eat more organic foods, he said.

“I’ve talked to the average Minnesotan and they may think government should be more streamlined, but they think there should be a cohesive reasoning for why these things are done,” he said.

The bad news came in the same week when Trust for America’s Health gave Minnesota a low ranking for its readiness for future public health emergencies. While Minnesota had one of the lowest rates of preventable deaths, it was one of only 14 states where public health funding declined in 2024, according to the report by the public health advocacy group.