WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded $349,414 in funding to support the Illinois Department of Public Health’s capabilities to prepare for and respond to an outbreak of the Zika virus. Additionally, the Chicago Department of Public Health will receive $203,301 to protect Chicago residents from Zika. This is a stopgap measure intended to help states prepare for and better combat Zika, but sustained adequate funding is still needed immediately to protect pregnant women, children, and families.
“We’ve seen the devastation Zika is causing in Puerto Rico and other parts of the world,” said Durbin. “Today’s funding supports much-needed efforts to prevent the spread of Zika in Illinois. I will continue supporting these critical investments in public health, and I urge my colleagues in Congress to put politics aside and get serious about protecting Americans from this very real threat.”
Last week, Senator Durbin joined Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Patty Murray (D-WA) in urging congressional Republican leaders to work in a bipartisan manner to pass a Zika emergency funding package free of ideological poison pill riders and protect American women and children from Zika.
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