Politics wrong driver in virus funding

Tennessee is soon to become the first state in the nation to reject federal funding for Human Immunodeficiency Virus prevention and testing services. On June 1, our state will cease accepting Centers for Disease Control dollars for those purposes. Instead, it will initiate a new plan aimed at addressing the HIV epidemic supported by about $9 million in state funding, equivalent in amount to that now provided by CDC.

Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Ralph Alfredo has provided few specifics about the forthcoming state plan. Gov. Bill Lee’s office has provided some generalities indicating the Tennessee plan will modify priorities from those of the CDC. Such statements are understandably alarming to organizations now implementing the current federally funded plan. Specifically, they fear funding of certain nonprofits may be discontinued solely on the basis of political philosophy (e.g., support for LGBTQI+ or abortion rights) rather than on health service effectiveness.

Viruses don’t have political affiliations. Solutions for viral epidemics should be guided by public health science, free from intrusive political influence.

Patrick Lavin

Hixson