Almost $40 million in federal funding has been revoked from San Diego County, which is preparing to open a new Public Health Laboratory next month.
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s office said Thursday that the money the county had been expecting from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer be forthcoming.
But the state announced Thursday evening that a court had temporarily halted plans to cut $11 billion in federal public health funding across the country.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with more than 20 states and the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seeking to block slashing federal dollars for public health. The CDC is part of HHS.
On Thursday, Bonta’s office said that the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted a temporary restraining order that restores public health funding to state and local public health agencies across the country, including $972 million to California.
It is unclear what impact the court’s decision will have on the specific cut cited by Lawson-Remer.
In a news release shortly before Bonta’s, Lawson-Remer said the CDC’s local decision guts “support for disease surveillance, lab staffing, vaccine delivery and health equity.”
Last week, she explained, the county was notified that the CDC would rescind funds under several programs, including the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity program, the Immunization and Vaccines for Children program, and the COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant.
The county had counted on the funding, she said, all of which had been awarded through the next fiscal year, ending in 2026.
While the county was set to receive $174 million, “officials now estimate that approximately $40 million will not be available, due to the CDC’s abrupt 30-day closeout period,” according to the news release.
“We built the lab,” said Lawson-Remer, the Board of Supervisors‘ vice chair who is serving as acting chair in the absence of the former chair. “We planned responsibly. We kept our end of the deal. Now the federal government is walking away from theirs, and San Diego families are the ones paying the price.”
The $93 million Public Health Lab, scheduled to open in May at the County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa, was designed to reduce reliance on out-of-county corporate labs and expand rapid response capabilities for threats from contagious diseases.
It includes a whole genome sequencing lab, expanded wastewater surveillance to monitor for viruses and a training center.
According to Lawson-Remer’s office, the CDC funding would have covered $17 million in capital costs for the new laboratory and equipment.
“But without federal support, the county may be unable to equip or staff the facility as planned,” her office added.
Critical programs are at risk, according to the release, include a mobile testing unit for community outbreaks, in-shelter flu and hepatitis vaccinations, and a public health data system.
The county is looking at ways to preserve public health functions, Lawson-Remer’s office said.
The CDC did not respond to a request for comment.
Note: Inset – Rendering of San Diego County’s Public Health Laboratory. Photo courtesy of County News Center.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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