La Salle County Health Department in watch-and-wait mode as federal government cuts $125 million to state

The federal government cut funding to health agencies that could lead to service reductions, such as free vaccines.

But an official at the La Salle County Health Department said Thursday it’s too soon to know the impact.

“The Health Department continues to monitor the status of all grants,” said Jenny Barrie, health educator and public information officer for the La Salle County Health Department. “At this time, we are waiting for a complete report from the Illinois Department of Public Health on the impact this will have on local health departments.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health said in a news release it has been notified that the Trump administration will terminate federal grants nationwide that had already been awarded to support ongoing work to protect the public from infectious diseases like avian flu and measles.

The termination pulls back $125 million in funding for IDPH and 97 local public health departments, which IDPH had allocated for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infection Disease program, according to a news release.

Barrie singled out one potentially at-risk line item. The department currently receives a respiratory grant. The grant money, allotted for a period ending June 30, 2026, was earmarked to help fund investigations of disease outbreaks and increase respiratory outbreak prevention in long-term care facilities. The funding helps supplement work that is being done by health department staff, she said.

“While any interruption in funding is a concern,” Barrie said, “the Health Department has diverse funding sources which included state and federal grant, fee-for-service, insurance billing and tax dollars.”