Pediatricians are concerned that most Arizona children have missed routine vaccinations.
The Pima County Health Department received notification from the Department of Health and Human Services, that several federal grants were being terminated.
In a published memo, the county reported that several contracts were being closed, calling for layoffs or “workforce reduction plan” and would have to scale back their community services.
Sarah Davis with the County Administrator’s office said during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting that a total of nine grants tied to public health services, immunizations, and supplies were impacted.
“The two big ones, specifically COVID-19 health disparities and vaccine equity were termed or stop work order before their performance period end date,” she said.
The county reported that the National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities grant was approved for extension through May 2026 impacts eight grant-funded staff positions, resulting in $903,102 in inaccessible funds.
“We had an average annual expenditure of $1.6 million and would have fully expensed that,” Davis said.
The COV4Equity grant impacts 14 full-time funded staff members, three contract-licensed nurses, and an additional 25 employees who charge out portions of their time to this grant according to the memo, stopping access to about $1,047,252 remaining funds.
Davis noted that this grant was due to expire at the end of this fiscal year, in June.
Since then, county health department employees have been notified of potential layoffs, however, the county anticipates layoffs to stretch across other departments.
Davis said that 92% of the county health department’s funding is roughly sourced from the Centers for Disease Control, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration and noted that other county departments also receive funding from HHS.
“We’re seeing really an enhanced scrutiny of an overall attempted pause directed to policy decisions from the executive office, changes to our workforce which affect our federal agencies that we work directly with and enhanced scrutiny and review of charges within our grant agreements,” Davis said.
Yesterday however, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that she was suing HHS for terminating nearly $12 billion in public health grants affecting about $239 million of funds in Arizona.
Mayes joined a coalition of 23 other state attorneys general suing the department and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for jeopardizing county public health offices, jobs, and care.
In the lawsuit that was filed in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, the attorneys general argue that these mass terminations are illegal and are seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Secretary Kennedy and the department's actions.
“With this single threat, Secretary Kennedy has all but ensured that more Arizonans will get sick and die the next time we suffer an infectious disease outbreak, or god forbid, another pandemic,” Mayes said in a press release.
Last week, HHS announced a major restructuring that would cut 20,000 full-time jobs with 10,000 more on the chopping block in the coming weeks.
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