FARMINGTON, CT – The termination of $149 million worth of federal public health grants will have far-reaching and long-term effects on Connecticut’s most vulnerable, according to state officials.
At a news conference at UConn John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington, Gov. Ned Lamont joined the state’s health leaders and other elected officials in denouncing the cuts as a step backward in public health.
“It’s not just about numbers and budget cuts; it’s about vulnerable children and vulnerable elders,” said John Driscoll, board chair of UConn Health.
The cuts to Connecticut were part of $11.4 billion in terminations of grants that had already been allocated to state and local health departments, according to the Lamont administration.
Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the state’s Department of Public Health, said the cuts would be devastating to communities, especially when it comes to programs like community vaccination outreach.
“Public health, it was once told to me, saved your life today. You just didn’t know it,” she said.
That point has been driven home by the recent measles outbreak, which has seen almost 400 cases and two fatalities, Kevin Dieckhaus, UConn Health’s head of infectious diseases, stated. He noted that about 95 percent of the cases were with patients that were inadequately vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Dieckhaus called vaccinations “a victim of their own success,” since they keep people from getting sick in the first place.
“It’s difficult to conceive of deaths prevented, because they’re not right in front of us,” he said.
But since vaccinations keep the general population healthy, he said cuts to vaccination programs are “an assault on the health of all of us.”
State Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee and a medical doctor, compared the public health cuts to the planned Department of Education shutdown.
“Whether it is education or health, everything that is dear to us is under assault,” he said. He also criticized Republicans on the Public Health Committee for not attending the gathering.
State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, the committee’s ranking Republican, said she had missed the news conference due to a previously scheduled Republican news conference on government waste that took place at the same time.
Somers said any cuts to public health were always of concern but expressed the hope that the state could absorb some of the federal cuts in the current budget.
The vaccination rate should not be affected by the cuts since immunizations remained a requirement for public school enrollment. “You are no longer eligible for an education in Connecticut if you are not vaccinated,” she said.
Somers, reached by phone Thursday afternoon, said she had heard the administration was going to be making cuts.
“During COVID, they ramped up the amount of funding,” she said. “Maybe we are resetting to pre-COVID levels.”
Somers’ fellow Republican, state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria of Seymour, agreed.
“Obviously I’m concerned about how these cuts are going to impact the state of Connecticut,” she said. “But as difficult as these cuts may be, I can appreciate how this is forcing the conversation that we have (in the legislature) about health care costs.”
She said she was ready to collaborate with Lamont to find ways to make up the funding gap.
“No one wants to have less money; we know that,” she said.
Juthani noted that the notification about the funding cuts had been accompanied by comments that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but she pointed out that vaccine funding is critical to preventing the next pandemic.
Lamont said the COVID pandemic had demonstrated that public health required national leadership.
“We learned during COVID: There are no borders,” he said.
Throughout the gathering, several officials said the state would fight the cuts. And within hours of the event, Attorney General William Tong issued a statement vowing to do just that.
Calling the cuts “a reckless escalation of Donald Trump’s lawless war on American families and workers,” Tong said his office was coordinating with other states and would respond in court. He called the cuts “the latest lawless effort by (President Donald) Trump to unilaterally rescind congressionally authorized funding to states.”
In response to a question, Lamont said the state would attempt to address some of the funding gap in the upcoming two-year budget. He also did not rule out a special legislative session.
State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, shared a personal story of losing her brother-in-law to the flu at age 43.
“The flu still kills people,” she said. “And what saves them? Vaccines.”
McCarthy Vahey said the state would need leadership from Lamont, whom she referred to as “Steady Neddy,” praising what she called his ability to bring leaders together regardless of their political party or background.
For his part, Lamont said he had been in regular contact with leaders in predominately Republican states, who share his concerns about reductions in federal public health funding.
“Privately, they’re as alarmed as we are,” he said. “Publicly, they have to be careful.”