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States strike back with suit against public health funding cuts; FDA names acting vaccine leader
Lisa Schnirring
56 minutes ago.
Public Health On the same day massive personnel cuts and restructuring were announced at the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday, a group of 23 states filed a federal suit against the federal government for cutting $11 billion in funding for COVID and other public health projects.
Filing in federal court in Rhode Island, the lawsuit maintains the cuts were illegal and the federal government didn’t provide a rational basis or facts to support the cuts, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Attorneys general for the states said the cuts will seriously hurt public health, put states at greater risk for pandemics and other disease outbreaks, and cut off vital public health services.
Cuts have broad impact on public health infrastructure
Minnesota is among the states that signed onto the lawsuit. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) yesterday said the cuts triggered layoff and separation notices to 170 of its employees with positions supported by the terminated grants. At-risk notices were sent to several more, affecting a total of 300 MDH employees.
“These layoffs and separations are a direct consequence of the unprecedented and unexpected action by the federal government last week to cut more than $220 million in previously approved federal funding,” the MDH said, noting that some of the layoffs affect people who worked on the H5N1 response, measles surveillance, wastewater tracking, the state’s public health laboratory, community clinics, and vaccination efforts.
Susan Kansagra, MD, MBA, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), said in a March 31 blog post that the government’s rationale was that the funds supported COVID, which is no longer a public health emergency. “The reality is that the funds supported public health response infrastructure as a whole — both for COVID-19 and for other health threats.”
She said some jurisdictions might be able to absorb or reprioritize activities, but most are reporting detrimental impacts, such as cutting off technology improvements and data modernization, lab testing capacity. For some funding streams, health departments were already winding down activities, but for others, workers found out about their terminations on the same day the cuts were announced.
The suddenness felt akin to shutting off the lights to the operating room while the surgeon is still in the middle of a procedure.
“The suddenness felt akin to shutting off the lights to the operating room while the surgeon is still in the middle of a procedure,” Kansagra wrote.
FDA names acting CBER director
Following the ouster of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) top vaccine official Peter Marks, MD, earlier this week, the FDA today announced that someone from within its ranks—Scott Steele, PhD— has been named as acting director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).
“Dr. Steele is a science, technology, and policy professional at FDA with extensive experience in multiple disciplines, including emerging science and technology, translational science, public health preparedness, and biodefense and medical countermeasures,” the FDA said on X.
Steele has held several roles within FDA since 2017, most recently as senior adviser in CBER’s translational science office.
A molecular biologist, Steele also held positions in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and was executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and Policy Analyst.
Marks’ forced departure from FDA has triggered concerns from the biotechnology sector.
House committee members call for Kennedy to testify
That and other recent HHS actions have also drawn concerns from lawmakers. Yesterday bipartisan members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee (HELP) wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., asking him to testify about the HHS restructuring at a hearing on April 10.
Today, Democrat ranking members of the House Energy and Commerce committee called on the group’s chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) to hold a similar hearing with Kennedy on the agency’s reorganization and firing of thousands of government workers.
In a letter, Frank Pallone, Jr (D-NJ) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) wrote, “We are concerned that these cuts have been made indiscriminately, without regard to the impact that they will have on the ability of HHS and its operating divisions to meet its statutory responsibilities and its obligations to the American people.”
We are concerned that these cuts have been made indiscriminately, without regard to the impact that they will have.
States strike back with suit against public health funding cuts; FDA names acting vaccine leader
Lisa Schnirring
56 minutes ago.
Public Health On the same day massive personnel cuts and restructuring were announced at the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday, a group of 23 states filed a federal suit against the federal government for cutting $11 billion in funding for COVID and other public health projects.
Filing in federal court in Rhode Island, the lawsuit maintains the cuts were illegal and the federal government didn’t provide a rational basis or facts to support the cuts, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Attorneys general for the states said the cuts will seriously hurt public health, put states at greater risk for pandemics and other disease outbreaks, and cut off vital public health services.
Cuts have broad impact on public health infrastructure
Minnesota is among the states that signed onto the lawsuit. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) yesterday said the cuts triggered layoff and separation notices to 170 of its employees with positions supported by the terminated grants. At-risk notices were sent to several more, affecting a total of 300 MDH employees.
“These layoffs and separations are a direct consequence of the unprecedented and unexpected action by the federal government last week to cut more than $220 million in previously approved federal funding,” the MDH said, noting that some of the layoffs affect people who worked on the H5N1 response, measles surveillance, wastewater tracking, the state’s public health laboratory, community clinics, and vaccination efforts.
Susan Kansagra, MD, MBA, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), said in a March 31 blog post that the government’s rationale was that the funds supported COVID, which is no longer a public health emergency. “The reality is that the funds supported public health response infrastructure as a whole — both for COVID-19 and for other health threats.”
She said some jurisdictions might be able to absorb or reprioritize activities, but most are reporting detrimental impacts, such as cutting off technology improvements and data modernization, lab testing capacity. For some funding streams, health departments were already winding down activities, but for others, workers found out about their terminations on the same day the cuts were announced.
The suddenness felt akin to shutting off the lights to the operating room while the surgeon is still in the middle of a procedure.
“The suddenness felt akin to shutting off the lights to the operating room while the surgeon is still in the middle of a procedure,” Kansagra wrote.
FDA names acting CBER director
Following the ouster of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) top vaccine official Peter Marks, MD, earlier this week, the FDA today announced that someone from within its ranks—Scott Steele, PhD— has been named as acting director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).
“Dr. Steele is a science, technology, and policy professional at FDA with extensive experience in multiple disciplines, including emerging science and technology, translational science, public health preparedness, and biodefense and medical countermeasures,” the FDA said on X.
Steele has held several roles within FDA since 2017, most recently as senior adviser in CBER’s translational science office.
A molecular biologist, Steele also held positions in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and was executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and Policy Analyst.
Marks’ forced departure from FDA has triggered concerns from the biotechnology sector.
House committee members call for Kennedy to testify
That and other recent HHS actions have also drawn concerns from lawmakers. Yesterday bipartisan members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee (HELP) wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., asking him to testify about the HHS restructuring at a hearing on April 10.
Today, Democrat ranking members of the House Energy and Commerce committee called on the group’s chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) to hold a similar hearing with Kennedy on the agency’s reorganization and firing of thousands of government workers.
In a letter, Frank Pallone, Jr (D-NJ) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) wrote, “We are concerned that these cuts have been made indiscriminately, without regard to the impact that they will have on the ability of HHS and its operating divisions to meet its statutory responsibilities and its obligations to the American people.”
We are concerned that these cuts have been made indiscriminately, without regard to the impact that they will have.