Unions Representing Members at the Department of Public Health React to Sudden Federal Funding Cuts Six CDC Grants for Infectious Diseases and Immunizations Terminated by the Trump Administration
[Hartford, CT] - The unions representing workers at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) are sounding the alarm following the abrupt termination of six federally funded CDC grants essential to infectious disease tracking, prevention, and immunization efforts. These cuts, orchestrated by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services under the influence of billionaire Elon Musk, represent yet another blow to public health infrastructure and the frontline workers who sustain it.
These grants supported programs that saved and improved the lives of Connecticut residents with members who are epidemiologists, lab scientists, nurses, health educators, and administrators working directly to protect the public from infectious disease outbreaks, ensure vaccine access and safety, and prepare our state to respond quickly when threats emerge. The sudden termination of this funding jeopardizes this work and will have far reaching consequences for the people of our state.
The coalition is working with many others to reverse these cuts and prevent others. In the eyes of some billionaires, human beings who depend on public services – all of us – and the workers who provide them, are disposable. We are not. We cannot allow our vital public health functions to become collateral damage in DC’s budget wars.
