Vermont to lose $7.5M in federally-funded health programs

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Federal funding uncertainty is leaving Vermont’s pandemic-era health programs in limbo.

The Trump administration recently announced a pullback of more than $11 billion in COVID-related funding nationwide. Vermont was slated to get roughly $7 million of that.

Officials with the Vermont Department of Health say that funding has supported work beyond the pandemic, including disease detection and prevention, addressing health disparities among Vermont communities, and vaccine access.

That funding has also been used by the state’s Department of Mental Health for crisis response and access to care for vulnerable Vermonters.

“While these grants were always intended as temporary, the demand for mental health services remains high, and this loss of funding will have consequences,” Agency of Human Services officials said in a statement Friday. They went on to say they’re still working to figure out what the implications are.

House lawmakers this week approved the 2026 budget bill. Appropriations committee officials say they don’t have anything specific in the budget to address the loss of that federal funding.

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