The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services canceled around $12 billion in federal grants to states that were allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal department and state officials said on Wednesday.

State and local public health departments are bracing themselves as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulls back about $11.4 billion in grants that were allocated to state and community health departments during the Covid-19 pandemic response.

States have been told that they can no longer use grants that were funding infectious disease management and addiction services.