Maine officials are assessing the impact on state programs after the federal government slashed more than $11 billion nationwide in public health initiatives funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
An additional $1 billion is being cut from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
It was unclear on Thursday morning how the cutbacks would affect Maine, but the Maine Public Health Association said that it will likely results in "tens of millions" in reduced health funding for Maine.
"These short-sighted funding cuts will have serious impacts for Mainers' health and safety," said Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association, in a written statement. "At a time when we're experiencing an intense flu season in Maine, a measles outbreak in multiple states across the country, and the looming threat of bird flu, we should be investing in systems and programs that protect people from infectious diseases, not dismantling them."
Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for Maine DHHS and Maine CDC, said the agency was notified that "certain grants with COVID-related funding have been terminated effective March 25. "Maine DHHS is currently evaluating the impacts of these terminations."
The U.S. DHHS also announced 10,000 layoffs on Thursday, with more than 1,000 layoffs at the National Institutes of Health.
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Wellington said "public health professionals are used to operating on a shoestring budget. These cuts just pulled out the laces. People across Maine and the U.S. are going to be more vulnerable as a result."
The New York Times reported that state health departments began receiving notices this week that funds allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic were being axed.
"No additional activities can be conducted, and no additional costs may be incurred, as it relates to these funds," according to the notices sent to states.
Some sates prepared to lay off epidemiologists and data scientists, according to the New York Times. Thousands of layoffs at state and local health agencies are expected across the nation.
Jessica Grondin, spokesperson for Portland city government, one of two city-run local health departments in Maine, said "it is likely we will be affected, as most of the funding we receive from the Maine CDC is federal pass through."
In February, a U.S. CDC worker who had been working for Portland's health department, was laid off by the Trump administration.
Andrew Nixon, spokesperson for the U.S. DHHS, said in a public statement that the "pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago."
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