Health

Trump Administration Yanks $125M in COVID Funds from Chicago’s Health Department

The Trump administration yanked $125 million in funding from the Chicago Department of Public Health designed to stop the continued spread of COVID-19 and prevent a new pandemic from taking root, officials said Friday.

In all, those funds fueled 22 contracts and funded more than 100 staff positions, Chicago officials said.   

Mayor Brandon Johnson urged the Trump administration to restore the funding, a plea the president is unlikely to heed from the Democratic mayor of a city his administration is attempting to strip of all federal funding because it prohibits police officers from assisting efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.

“I am deeply concerned by this attack on funding that directly supports the health and wellbeing of our most vulnerable communities,” Johnson said. “As we learned through the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential for us to invest in preventative measures and monitoring to protect our communities from future outbreaks. This funding cut is counterproductive to our mission of keeping our communities safe and healthy.”

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward), the chair of the City Council's Health and Human Relations Committee, said she was working to preserve funding for “life-saving work,” including programs that treat Chicagoans with HIV/AIDS and prevent the spread of that disease, along with other sexually transmitted infections.

“I am scared for our communities,” Rodriguez Sanchez said. “It is absolutely devastating to see this happening.”

The cuts to CDPH are on top of the $125 million federal officials cut from the Illinois Department of Health and 97 local public health departments. That money had been earmarked to fight infectious disease, officials said.

The Trump administration’s decision “will cause immeasurable harm and disruption to the health and safety of the people of Illinois and generate larger expenses in the longer run,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement released by IDPH.

Pritzker also vowed to fight the cuts.

The funding Trump is seeking to slash flowed to state and local health departments and was approved during the president’s first term in office, as the federal government scrambled to respond to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

The cuts mean CDPH will no longer have the resources to monitor and respond quickly to outbreaks of diseases including measles and influenza in settings such as schools, health care facilities and other locations such as shelters, officials said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on how woefully underfunded public health was and these vital federal funds helped CDPH and other public health agencies around the nation to be better equipped to manage complex health challenges that impact Chicagoans,” CDPH Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo “Simbo” Ige said.

CDPH’s budget for 2025 was already set to shrink by 16% as compared with last year, as pandemic-era grants worth nearly $140 million expired.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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