According to the Washington Post, the GOP’s replacement for the ACA—the American Health Care Act—would eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund that provides funding for the CDC as of October 2018. The fund is 12 percent of the agency’s total budget.
The CDC serves several functions, including research for preventing disease outbreaks, bioterrorism and providing immunizations and screenings. Public health officials are meeting with Congressional members to discuss how the cuts would impact their services and 500-plus organizations signed a letter to President Donald Trump about the consequences of weakening the CDC’s funding.
The CDC’s immunization program receives $324 million from the agency’s prevention fund, according to the report, and the funding is sent to the state and local community organizations. The agency may not be able to detect and respond to preventable diseases with vaccinations if the funding is eliminated.
The funding cut would also hit the CDC-led program that monitors children at risk for exposure; its most high profile case currently is monitoring the lead levels in the drinking water in Flint, Mich., which exposed residents — including many children — to high levels of lead.
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