...
By Jordan King
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Dozens of free measles vaccination clinics across Texas have been abruptly canceled, as steep federal funding cuts hit local public health operations.
In Dallas County, over 50 planned clinics—many scheduled for schools in areas with low immunization rates—have been scrapped, according to Dr. Philip Huang, director and health authority for the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department.
He told a Dallas County Commissioners Court meeting that the cuts also forced the layoff of 21 public health workers, further weakening local response efforts as the state grapples with a growing measles outbreak.
Read More on News
Why It Matters
The canceled clinics arrive at a critical moment for Texas, which has reported 422 measles cases since January, according to the Texas Department of State Health Service.
They are mostly in the South Plains and Panhandle regions of Texas. Dallas County has not reported a case.
The nationwide funding withdrawal, totaling $11.4 billion, was originally allocated to support community health departments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, in recent months, counties had repurposed those resources for disease surveillance, testing and vaccination efforts against other infectious threats, including measles.
A statement from the Department of Health and Human Services justified the decision, saying it would "no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago."
Huang called said the decision was "shortsighted" and lacked "understanding of the way public health works."
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services, via email, for a response to this.
What To Know
The funding withdrawal impacts not just staffing and event logistics, but the broader infrastructure of public health readiness.
Eleven full-time and 10 part-time Dallas County employees were let go, including health care providers, public health researchers and lab staff. The funding loss also affects vaccine-related operations in other parts of Texas, though clinics in West Texas—currently the center of the outbreak—remain open.
Dr. Gabriel A. Benavidez, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health at Baylor University, told Newsweek: "County and state health departments throughout the country have historically operated with limited resources. The additional COVID-era funding allowed for some breathing room and the ability to hire additional staff for disease surveillance, contact tracing, and vaccine clinics.
"With the reduced burden of COVID-19 today, many health districts were able to allocate that money for other uses, like putting on these MMR vaccine clinics that effectively removed travel burdens and financial barriers by bringing the clinics to the people in hopes of increasing vaccine uptake among vulnerable individuals, mainly children."
Public health leaders across the state are warning that the cuts could further accelerate the spread of measles and strain local response systems. Other states also experiencing outbreaks include Kansas (23 cases), Oklahoma (10 cases), and New Mexico (48 cases), with Ohio confirming at least 12 cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a smaller total of 483 confirmed measles cases across 20 jurisdictions as of March 27, 2025, 93 percent of which are linked to five major outbreaks. The CDC warned that more cases are expected due to the disease's high contagion level.
...
What People Are Saying
Huang said: You can't replace these tens of millions of dollars. They're not available in that scale. This is truly setting all of us back decades in terms of the public health infrastructure."
The Department of Health and Human Services' termination notice said, according to The New York Times: "No additional activities can be conducted, and no additional costs may be incurred, as it relates to these funds."
Dr. Benavidez told Newsweek: "The loss of that additional funding removes the ability for health departments to provide this type of added resource. Because the funding is tied to pandemic-era emergency spending increases, it makes it easier for the current administration to justify its elimination since the burden of COVID-19 is no longer what it was four or five years ago.
"I understand why they are making cuts to these pandemic-era grants, but I do hope they are able to reconfigure the money. Even to support the president and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda of focusing on chronic disease, health departments are going to require additional resources to support those efforts as well."
What's Next
Dallas County health officials are now relying on their existing network of brick-and-mortar clinics to administer vaccines amid the measles outbreak.
"In general, I don't think the stoppage of the MMR clinics in Dallas County will have a wide-ranging negative impact on the residents of Dallas County, given that Dallas has a fairly high MMR vaccine coverage rate already," Dr. Benavidez said. "Where it will have an impact is in counties in West Texas, where the risk of infection is highest given the spread and lower vaccine uptake."
Newsweek has contacted the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department, via email, for further comment on this.
Update 04/03/25 5:34 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional comment.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines