Agencies to return H1N1 funds to state

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Local agencies in Ohio are set to return millions of dollars in federal funding leftover from the H1N1 virus to the state health department.

The Ohio Department of Health tells The Columbus Dispatch it’s unsure of exactly how much money is coming back.

But spokeswoman Tessie Pollock says as of last week the department was expecting at least $6 million from 40 out of 88 grant recipients who reported leftover money.

Those departments have until the end of the month to send back unused funds. The money will be redistributed to prepare for another pandemic. State and local officials are slated to meet this week to discuss the details.

The bulk of the money was supposed to pay for employees who worked at the clinics and to spread awareness about the flu and vaccine. Health departments don’t pay for the vaccine or supplies.

Central Ohio started to receive H1N1 flu vaccines last October. Officials say public demand dropped off after priority groups including pregnant women and young children had been vaccinated.

The Dispatch reported most health departments in central Ohio — including Columbus and Franklin County — used all the money they received for H1N1.

The Union County Health Department plans to return some $260,465, said spokeswoman Jennifer Thrush. The Dispatch says few people went to the clinics held there in early 2010.

Union County Health Commissioner Jason Orcena says it’s not a bad thing to have to return money.

“Once the public’s interest in the vaccine waned, we collapsed our operations earlier than some health departments did,” Orcena said.

In northeast Ohio, health departments for Cuyahoga County, Cleveland and Shaker Heights plan to send back more than $1.3 million, says Terry Allan, the county’s health commissioner.

“Really, what it comes down to is we had a mild to moderate pandemic, and we were very fortunate that the funding was there for us if it was a severe pandemic,” he said.

Whether a health department has unused funding doesn’t show how well it managed its money, says Beth Bickford, executive director of the Ohio Association of Health Commissioners.

“It just depends on how much it cost you to do what you’re doing,” she said.