When the Trump administration moved to slash nearly $11 billion in CDC grants that supported local health departments, the fallout hit hardest along political lines.
At first, both blue and red states saw programs gutted vaccine clinics closed, workers laid off, and disease detection systems weakened. But then something changed: Democratic-led states fought back in court, and most of their funding was restored. Republican-led states? They were left with scraps.
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The numbers are stark. According to a KFF Health News analysis, blue states clawed back nearly 80% of their lost funding, while red states got less than 5% restored.
And the timing couldn’t be worse. The U.S. is facing its largest measles outbreak in three decadesand a deadly flu season that killed 266 children. Yet states like Texas which lost more than 30 CDC grants are struggling without the same lifeline. Health departments have been forced to cancel vaccination programs, lay off outreach workers, and scale back help for homeless and vulnerable families.
“Canceling funding midcycle was really scary,” said one Ohio health commissioner who lost half a million dollars and had to lay off staff overnight.
Meanwhile, California and other states that sued the administration kept every single grant. Their health departments remain intact, while communities in GOP-led states face real risks of being left behind during outbreaks.
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At the center of it all is HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has dismissed the CDC as a “cesspool of corruption” and taken steps to undermine vaccination efforts even as preventable diseases spread.
This is more than politics. It’s a dangerous split in America’s public health safety net one that may decide who gets protected when the next outbreak comes.
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