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Vernon County health officials warn HHS grant cuts could curtail local vaccine work
Summary
Health Officer Amy Kleiber told the Vernon County Board of Health that the county’s COVID-19 Immunization Grant was slated to be terminated — reimbursable expenses after March 24 would not be covered — though a temporary restraining order filed April 7 briefly stalled the terminations.
The Vernon County Board of Health was told April 9 that the county’s COVID-19 Immunization Grant funding would no longer be reimbursable for expenses incurred after March 24, 2025, though a federal court issued a temporary restraining order on April 7 that has temporarily blocked terminations.
“Any expenses incurred after 3/24/2025 would no longer be reimbursed,” Health Officer Amy Kleiber told the board, noting the department expects to return about $60,000 to the federal government from that funding source if the terminations stand. Kleiber said the department has other funding sources it can use for current vaccine outreach without immediate operational impact, but she warned that broader HHS cuts could harm services in the near term.
Kleiber cited wider federal reductions — approximately $225 million in cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services — that she said have the potential to affect programs such as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, peer-run respite and recovery centers, public health laboratories and the Wisconsin Immunization Registry. The board discussed uncertainty around the timing and scope of cuts and the difficulty of obtaining timely answers while some HHS offices remain closed, as Kleiber described.
The board did not vote on any new funding measures at the April 9 meeting; Kleiber said staff will continue to monitor the litigation and prioritize reimbursable spending until further guidance is available.
