HHS diverting millions in funding marked for vaccine efforts to housing migrant children

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has notified Congress that it will transfer an additional $589 million, some of which comes from funding COVID-19 vaccination efforts, to its programs to shelter unaccompanied migrant children who have entered the U.S. at the southern border.

Of the ARP funding, $187.5 million had been marked for the Centers for Disease Control for "vaccine planning, distribution, monitoring and tracking" and an additional $25 million for "vaccine confidence activities." Meanwhile $151 million of the diverted funding had been tagged for the "Supply Chain for Vaccines, Therapeutics and Medical Supplies." The Biden administration has been facing a surge in migration at the southern border, which quickly turned into a full-blown border crisis with images of migrants packed into facilities across the border. The Biden administration has focused on getting unaccompanied children out of Border Patrol custody and into HHS care -- before they are united with sponsors, normally a guardian or parent already in the country.