The steep federal fund cuts have forced public health officials in one of the most populous counties of Texas, Dallas, to cancel dozens of vaccination clinics and fire 21 workers in the first line to combat the growing measles outbreak of the State.
“I just had to tell our commissioners this morning that we have had to cancel more than 50 different clinics in our community,” said Dr. Philip Huang, director and health authority of the Dallas County Human Services Department. Many of the clinics had been planned for schools in areas with low vaccination rates, he said.
Vaccines, which included measles, papers and rubella’s shots, were destined to be free of families.
The money that was reduced, $ 11.4 billion throughout the country, was originally assigned to help community health departments during pandemic. Local public health officials have been using COVID funds more recently for other public health initiatives, such as measles prevention, surveillance and evidence.
Last week, however, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that “it would no longer waste billions of taxpayers who responded to a non -existent pandemic that Americans moved years ago.”
“That is very myope and does not understand the way public health works,” Huang said. “Being prepared for Covid helps develop our ability to respond to other problems.”
Huang said his team was still evaluating the exact amount of money trimmed in his budget, but estimated that it was millions.
Until Tuesday, the Texas State Health Services Department had reported 422 measles. None is in Dallas County, but Huang said the cuts would leave their community vulnerable to cases.
Eleven full -time employees and 10 part -time employees were fired, he said. The majority were medical care providers that gave vaccines, epidemiologists and laboratory personnel involved with measles surveillance and prevention.
The personnel who operate vaccine clinics in western Texas, who remain the epicenter of the measles outbreak, said that these clinics continue as planned for now.
Other states that report measles outbreaks include kansas with 23 cases, Oklahoma with 10 cases and New Mexico with 48 cases. And Public Health officials in Ohio have identified at least a dozen cases.
