Health funding cuts force layoffs in North Texas

DALLAS — Cuts to federal health agencies are hitting close to home in North Texas. 

The Trump administration announced last week it would cut $11 billion in federal funds, mainly used for COVID-19 initiatives and other public health projects. Several counties confirmed Tuesday the cuts would affect their public health department, impacting Dallas, Denton and Tarrant Counties.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday that three grants were canceled by HHS. Fifty-one local health departments, 10 universities and two state agencies were directed to pause spending under those grants, according to the department. 

In an interview with Inside Texas Politics Sunday, U.S. Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, said there was no reason to be concerned about cuts to Health and Human Services. 

“The job cuts are not going to be on the front line,” Self said on Inside Texas Politics. 

Attorneys general from 23 states sued the government in federal court, alleging the cuts are illegal and that the federal government did not provide a “rational basis” or facts to support the cuts, the Associated Press reported. The attorneys general say it will result in “serious harm to public health.” 

The Department of Health and Human Services also recently announced plans for mass layoffs; the department is expected to lay off 10,000 employees, the Associated Press reported. 

In Dallas County, the cuts forced the Dallas Public Health Department to lay off 11 full-time staff members and 10 temporary workers, officials said this week. 

Those layoffs caused the department to cancel 50-plus immunization clinics, some of which were recently scheduled at Dallas County schools with low measles vaccination rates, Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Philip Huang told commissioners Tuesday. 

In all, Dallas County lost $70 million in federal funding, Huang said. The funds were also used to cover the cost of lab equipment that could be used to increase capacity for measles testing, Huang said. He called the cuts “very concerning.” 

Some of the employees laid off due to the funding cuts worked on contact tracing and investigations, which is key to stopping a measles outbreak if one were to occur in Dallas County, officials said. 

State officials reported 115 new cases of measles on Wednesday, stemming from the outbreak in West Texas, totaling 442 cases in the state. About 94% of all Dallas County Kindergarteners were fully vaccinated for measles in the 2023-2024 school year, falling short of herd immunity, WFAA previously reported. 

“The funding may have been labeled as COVID but it extends far beyond just the COVID impact, we’re giving COVID vaccines, we’re giving flu vaccines but we’re also giving childhood vaccines too,” Huang said. “You would’ve thought after COVID, after what it did to our country, there would be recognition of the importance of continued investment in the public health infrastructure.”

Huang said the department will continue to offer vaccines through health clinics across the county.

“What we would hope will happen is we’ll be able to identify people who need a ride and through partnerships with people who are holding community events – with churches, with others, spending some money ourselves – we’ll be able to get everybody to our brick-and-mortar sites to get vaccinated,” Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said.  “Undoubtedly, there will be people who would have been vaccinated who are not vaccinated, but this is what we’re dealing with.”

As the department grapples with the loss of funding, it is redoubling its efforts to educate the public about the importance of measles vaccinations, Huang said. 

Tarrant County Administrator Chandler Merritt said this week that four county-awarded grants, totaling nearly $67 million, have been paused. 

Of that, about $3.6 million was awarded for a refugee clinic impacting 11 employees, $27 million for COVID-19 disparities affecting 11 employees, $27 million for immunization cooperative agreements affecting 36 employees and $9 million for epidemiology laboratory capacity affecting five employees. Any employees attached to the grants have been furloughed, Merritt said, and the county has put a hiring freeze in place for federally-funded positions, Merritt said. 

“Some of those are multi-year grants, so we’ve drawn down those expenses over time and the current balance of those four grants that’s out there that was paused is about $15.3 million,” Merritt said.

About 91% of all Tarrant County kindergarteners were fully vaccinated for measles in the 2023-2024 school year, falling 4 percentage points short of herd immunity, WFAA previously reported. 

Tarrant County officials said the county faces $8.4 million in unreimbursed federal grant expenses.

“Most federal grants, not all, but most federal grants are based on a reimbursement basis. So we get what’s called a notice of award, that comes back to court basically so the court’s aware of it and…whatever the amount is, we got out and actually incur the expense locally to perform it then we send all of that information back to the federal government saying here’s everything we’ve done per the grant, now we draw down those funds to reimburse ourselves for the expenses that we’ve incurred in order to perform it toward the grant,” Merritt explained. 

He said staff hasn’t identified a funding source to replace the grants.

In Denton County, the funding cuts forced their Public Health Department to cut 10 positions, officials said in a statement to WFAA. Affected employees include STD outbreak investigators, epidemiology staff, vaccination staff and employees who work to diminish health disparities, the county said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.