Due to recent federal funding cuts, free and low-cost vaccines soon will be a thing of the past at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
The federal grant changes come as a measles outbreak spreads across the state, with 505 cases reported by 21 Texas counties as of April 4.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notified Metro Health in late March that a vaccines for children grant has been reduced by $500,000, according to a memo from City Manager Erik Walsh to the mayor and city council.
The notice also stated that the grant, reduced to $250,000, now will be strictly limited to access to vaccines for children, outreach efforts and data and evaluation.
As a result of the reduced grant funding, five Metro Health staff will be laid off.
The funding cuts follow a statement just days ago by the nation’s health official seemingly doing a turnabout on vaccines.
Heath and Human Services Secretary and anti-vax activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advocated for vaccinations after a visit to Texas, instructing the CDC to supply pharmacies and clinics with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
In fiscal year 2024, Metro Health used the Federal Immunization Vaccines for Children Grant to assist 9,300 people and administer 22,400 vaccines. That comes to an end on July 1.
“The grant funds will not be able to cover direct vaccine clinic operations as allowed in the past,” stated the memo. Metro Health plans to look for alternatives to continue those operations and, in the meantime, will refer people seeking vaccines to other local providers.
Stops STD and HIV services
The Texas Department of Health Services also notified Metro Health it would defund several other initiatives for which grants had already been awarded.
A grant proposal of $571,977 for interventions in STD (sexually transmitted disease) and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which leads to AIDS) was rescinded by the Department of Health on March 27.
Previous grant funding for this work allowed Metro Health to augment its STD investigative team of 14 people with seven additional positions, according to Metro Health. Weekly, those positions allowed for follow-up on 65 syphilis investigations and review 1,000 reports.
Five of the seven positions are currently filled, and those employees have been advised that their positions will be eliminated July 31, the memo states.
‘Pandemic is over’
In addition, a COVID-19 Mobile Vaccination Grant of $25.3 million, set to expire on June 30, has been discontinued, forcing Metro Health to terminate 23 temporary agency positions.
The Department of Health also advised Metro Health that it should pause all activities related to a COVID-19 Epidemiology Lab Capacity Grant that it used to contract with UT Health San Antonio for testing and surveillance. Of the original $7.1 million grant, a remaining balance of $2 million is unspent.
Other funding cuts will affect mental health care services in San Antonio.
In late March, the local mental health authority, the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS), notified Walsh and Mayor Ron Nirenberg that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission plans to discontinue enrolling new clients in grant programs related to COVID-19 impacts.
“The state indicated in their letter to CHCS that the grants were issued to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic and that now that the pandemic is over, the grants are no longer necessary as their limited purpose has run out,” the memo stated.
CHCS had used the grant for a residential program for pregnant parenting women.
Funding through CHCS for a subcontract with Haven for Hope, which provided for rapid and permanent housing, is also affected.
Haven for Hope receives funding from CHCS through its Healthy Community Collaborative Grant, which is funded by the state’s Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC).
The grant has supported 43 households, mostly individuals, enrolled in Haven’s Rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing programs, which provide housing assistance and case management to people experiencing homelessness, said a Haven spokeswoman.
HHSC and CHCS have notified Haven for Hope that $218,000 in funds for April through September are being discontinued.
“We’re working to identify other funding sources to support these programs and individuals,” said David Huete, Haven’s vice president of programming. “We are not expecting anybody to ‘return to the street’ due to this funding cut.”
