Ohio among states with most CDC funding cuts to state, local public health

Following a series of court victories in other states, Ohio is now one of the top five states with the most cuts in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for state and local health departments (Source: “Blue States That Sued Kept Most CDC Grants, While Red States Feel Brunt of Trump Clawbacks,” KFF Health News, Aug. 26).
 
The Department of Health and Human Services in late March canceled nearly 700 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants nationwide — together worth about $11 billion. Awarded during the covid-19 pandemic, they supported efforts to vaccinate people, reduce health disparities among demographic groups, upgrade antiquated systems for detecting infectious disease outbreaks, and hire community health workers.
 
Initially, grant cancellations hit blue and red states roughly evenly. Four of the five jurisdictions with the largest number of terminated grants were led by Democrats: California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Massachusetts.
 
But after attorneys general and governors from about two dozen blue states sued in federal court and won an injunction, the balance flipped. Of the five states with the most canceled grants, four are led by Republicans: Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio.
 
Federal CDC funding accounts for more than half of state and local health department budgets, according to KFF.