Source says funds set for CDC to fight virus are stalled

The bulk of a $1 billion funding package intended to help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has remained unspent since being authorized more than five months ago, according to people familiar with the matter.

The funding, part of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, also known as the PPP, was set aside by Congress on April 24 for “surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity expansion, contact tracing,” improvements to data systems and boosting testing for COVID-19.

Administration officials directed $200 million of the money to a $300 million ad campaign about the virus, according to a CDC spokesman. The ad campaign is being developed outside the agency. CDC Director Robert Redfield said last month the agency needs billions more to help distribute a vaccine. Other funds allocated to the agency have been steered to the White House’s “Operation

Warp Speed” vaccine development program, which CDC is a part of.

But most of the allocation has sat idle despite requests over the summer from CDC to access some of the money, according to one person familiar with the matter. Two of the people familiar with the issue confirmed the CDC didn’t have access to the money as recently as September. The people asked not to be identified discussing information that wasn’t public.

In an emailed statement, the CDC said the rest of the funding would be spent later: “CDC will begin to use the remainder of the PPP funding to support planned activities.”

A senior administration official said that no money has been held up and that the White House Office of Management and Budget approved the CDC’s use of the funding. The official didn’t address questions about when the money was approved or details of how it would be spent.

The CDC’s normal annual budget is about $8 billion, and Congress has approved an additional $7.5 billion across several stimulus packages. Money that Congress appropriates may face several steps before reaching the agency that will ultimately spend it, including approvals from Cabinet departments and the White House Office of Management and Budget.

While delays in getting money out the door aren’t unusual, the CDC has been at the forefront of the pandemic. Much of CDC’s funding is relayed to health departments in states and local governments, which carry out public health activities like testing, contact tracing and epidemiological studies. The CDC has awarded $12 billion to state, local, tribal and territorial health departments, Redfield testified to Congress in September.

State and local agencies will play a big role in distributing coronavirus vaccines whenever they become ready. The CDC and HHS were considering using the funds to help the administration’s Operation Warp Speed program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccines, including communication with the public about vaccine trials; information gathering for the data platform HHS Protect; and grants for states and public research institutions, one of the people said.