EVERETT — The Snohomish County Health Department is facing up to $3.4 million in cuts to federal grants.
The department had allocated the funds primarily for health education and research, including improving access to and awareness of immunizations and disease prevention, said Snohomish County Executive Office spokesperson Kari Bray in an email Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Washington joined 23 other states in suing the Trump administration over the cancellation of $11 billion in public health funding nationwide. On Thursday, a judge granted a temporary restraining order, immediately restore the funding, according to a press release from the state attorney general’s office.
The cuts target two grants. One provides funding for COVID-19 vaccines for children. The other — the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program — provides funds for detecting, preventing and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. On Tuesday, the health department confirmed Snohomish County’s third positive measles case this year.
In addition to direct local impacts, the county is assessing potential effects of the cuts on state public health resources local departments rely on, Bray said. The health department is doing its best to minimize the effects on Snohomish County residents, she said.
“However, continued reductions of this magnitude will make it increasingly difficult to shield the public from the consequences,” Bray said. “Sustained disinvestment in public health compromises our ability to respond to emerging health threats, maintain essential services, and protect our most vulnerable residents.”
In Washington state, the federal government rescinded $118 million from the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program, according to the lawsuit.
“Loss of these funds would cause an immediate reduction in the state public health agency’s ability to respond to emerging outbreaks for mpox, measles, and H5N1,” the lawsuit read. “These funds also support data analytics work related to surveillance for post-COVID conditions, COVID-risk factors, and health care access and health workforce challenges across the state of Washington.”
The cuts come as the Trump administration shut down the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regional office in Seattle on Tuesday. The office served all of Washington state, in addition to Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Its primary focus is to build relationships between health departments and community organizations.
The closure could have implications for health care access and disease prevention, support for families and early childhood education such as Head Start, Bray said, but it’s too early to tell how severe the impacts could be.
“As much as we value these services, we know county government does not have enough local resources to bridge all those gaps,” she said.
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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