Federal funding for Covid-19 vaccine efforts is being cut months ahead of schedule, prompting concern among public health officials who say the move will significantly impact underserved communities.
Originally, Covid-19 vaccine funding was scheduled to expire in two phases: June 30, 2025, and March 31, 2026. However, the Trump administration last month ordered the early termination of funding and the closure of 87 vaccine clinics nationwide, including several in Minneapolis.
The closures affect free vaccine services at clinics such as M Health Fairview, Odam Community Clinic and Neighborhood HealthSource, according to a letter sent to local health departments. The clinics were instructed to immediately halt free vaccine distribution, including for Covid-19, flu and MPOX.
In 2024, the Minneapolis Health Department administered 800 Covid-19 vaccines, 700 flu shots and 500 MPOX vaccines, according to city officials.
Luisa Pessoa-Brandão, director of public health for the Minneapolis Health Department, said the sudden nature of the decision makes it difficult for local agencies to adapt.
“Perhaps we wouldn’t be able to do the community clinics, but could we have some education and connect with partners where they could host and we could support in other ways?” Pessoa-Brandão told reporters Wednesday. “It becomes a lot more difficult when there is a sudden withdrawal of all the funds.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defended the cuts in a statement issued last month. “The Covid-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the agency said.
The decision prompted at least five high-level resignations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including Leandris Liburd, former director of the Office of Health Equity.
Pessoa-Brandão pushed back on the administration’s assertion: “Covid is over in terms of a pandemic, but people are still dying of Covid on a regular basis,” she said. “These funds were for recovery, and we had many things that happened because, for example, childhood immunization rates dropped during Covid.”
Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham criticized the lack of warning, saying it deviated from long-standing federal practices. “If CDC, in the past, would have wanted to cut a funding stream, they usually would give you a 90-day notice,” Cunningham said. “This is not the way we have historically worked with our federal partners.”
Sebastiana Cervantes, a senior public health specialist who leads pop-up clinics in Minneapolis, said the closures were “devastating” to the communities she serves.
“I’m extremely thankful that I still have this job, and it’s also devastating to the communities that I’ve continued to work with,” Cervantes said. “To know there are children out there who could potentially not have resources to be protected from certain things is very emotional and very devastating.”
Pop-up clinics often serve uninsured and underinsured residents, according to Pessoa-Brandão. In 2022, approximately 4% of Minnesotans were uninsured. That figure was higher among Black residents (6%) and significantly higher among Indigenous people (16%), state data show.
“Even though Minnesota has many programs, people are still uninsured, and they’re not necessarily going to be able to go to a clinic,” Pessoa-Brandão said. “Some people don’t trust the medical system, and they’re not going to go to a clinic, but they might come to a community organization that they trust.”
Cervantes described how families would bring children to pop-up sites just before school deadlines to meet vaccination requirements. “We had families who brought their children last-minute who didn’t think they would be able to go to school if they didn’t get the vaccination,” she said. “They just had to show up at one of our South Minneapolis pop-ups.”
She added that the department has operated ongoing clinics at locations including the Family Partnership and the Jordan Area Community Council. Pessoa-Brandão said the clinics provide essential access to Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other BIPOC communities.
“We don’t ask about documentation. We are there to provide a service,” she said. “We were very specifically going into areas and having clinics in places where we know immunization rates are lower and where there are issues with access.”
Cunningham said she fears the abrupt termination of services will damage trust between federal, state and local agencies.
“You have to have a strong federal partner, a strong state partner, a strong local partner, and I fear that we do not have this,” Cunningham said. “We can’t count on the federal government for public health in the same way.”
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