Federal government rescinds $226M in COVID-19 grants from Minnesota Department of Health

The Minnesota Department of Health says it is losing $226 million in federal grant money that was supposed to supplement the state’s COVID-19 response.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it was canceling more than $11 billion in COVID-19-related grants for state and local health departments.

“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.

In Minnesota, that money was supporting “ongoing work and contracts,” Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham said, adding that the termination was “sudden and unexpected.”

“In the past we could count on the federal government to uphold its commitments and obligations,” Cunningham said. “When changes are necessary, the federal government typically gives sufficient notice to plan and pursue other sources of funding to ensure that the work to protect the health of Minnesotans continues uninterrupted and does not put our residents at risk.”

Cunningham says the department will continue to monitor and communicate impacts as they learn more about the situation.

The Minneapolis Health Department also learned this week that it was losing COVID-19 funds that paid for free vaccine clinics for kids and underserved communities. Minneapolis Health Commissioner Damōn Chaplin said the city now has to cancel five vaccine clinics scheduled for April because of the cuts.

“Decisions at the federal level threaten public health now and in the future,” Chaplin said.

The grants also paid for three positions within the Health Department, and those employees will remain on staff while the city looks to other funding sources.

A spokesperson for Minneapolis Public Health said that the department is losing about $2 million in vaccine-related funding. The federal funding was initially awarded to MDH for distribution to local public health departments and their own work.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.