Boston Children's Hospital feeling pinch of federal funding cuts

Trump administration funding cuts are beginning to have effects on the top-ranked children's hospital in Massachusetts, its president said on Monday.

Boston Children's Hospital President Dr. Kevin Churchwell said cuts affecting the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration have begun to halt the hospital's research, including on vaccines.

Churchwell spoke to reporters at a press conference at the hospital Monday organized by Gov. Maura Healey, a critic of President Donald Trump's attempts to cut federal funding from a swath of programs.

"The answer is yes, we've seen cuts," Churchwell said, answering a reporter's question about direct impacts of the Trump administration threats. "What time is it? It's not Friday is it? Every Friday we hear something. And it's causing, not just the cut that happens, but also the anxiety ... of our research staff, our research enterprise."

Trump is seeking to reduce the size of medical research grants as part of his efforts to slash federal spending. The White House said it would sharply reduce the rate at which it reimburses research institutions for "indirect costs," like lab space, faculty, equipment and infrastructure.

A federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction this month to block the Trump administration from slashing the health and research dollars, after 22 state attorneys general sued the administration. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell was among them.

Still, Healey had said in February that even when Campbell had secured a temporary restraining order on the cuts, the money was not flowing to Massachusetts.

"NIH funding is frozen, it's effectively frozen. It's not coming forward, even though there's a court order. We have people who are shrinking their undergraduate programs and enrollment. We have people who are shrinking their PhD and postdoc programs. Research has been cut back," Healey said in Feburary.

Boston Children's Hospital is the fourth largest recipient of NIH grants in the country, and the leading pediatric care recipient. Last year, it received $218 million, according to The New York Times. It estimates a $54 million reduction under the proposed cuts.

Of the top five largest grant recipients of NIH funding in the U.S., three are in Massachusetts, the Times says: Massachusetts General Hospital, which received $641 million last year and is poised to lose $98 million; Brigham and Women's Hospital, which received $364 million in 2024 and could lose $77 million, and Boston Children's.

Churchwell said Boston Children's receives other federal funding for research, which is also being affected.

"It's really around vaccine work that we're seeing the most engagement, or stoppage around. We have worked with the CDC and FDA regarding that, and we've seen just a stoppage of that that's been significant," he said.

The hospital has contracts with the CDC and FDA to develop vaccines, including the flu vaccine, he said. Additionally, the hospital is doing significant research on solving sickle cell disease, which Churchwell said hospital leaders are anxious about getting cut.

As of Monday, the hospital had not laid off any staff, he said.

"We're working pretty hard to really identify where we can support our staff. It's a lot of stress on the system. But we really believe that the people we have here are incredibly important, and we're working to support them," Churchwell said.

Healey toured the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit before the press conference.

"I don't know anyone who could go up and have the experience that I just had, visiting with families and seeing these little kids and want to take that away," Healey said, getting choked up and eyes watering, "want to take away that hope. Away from any family. We're better than that."

Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh warned of potential cuts to Medicaid, which would threaten the state's budget and could impact 2 million Massachusetts residents who rely on the public insurance.

The White House has said it does not intend to make cuts to Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security.

"The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it (over and over and over again)," says a press release from the president's administration on March 11.

On Fox News in February, Trump said, "Social Security won't be touched, other than if there's fraud or something. It's going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched. Now, if there are illegal migrants in the system, we're going to get them out."

However, some say that the administration cannot fulfill promised budget and tax cuts without touching the high-dollar insurance program. The House Energy and Commerce Committee must find at least $880 billion in cuts under a proposed budget, and Medicaid and Medicare together make up the vast majority of the spending the committee oversees.

"We have not seen Medicaid cuts yet, but they need to get $880 [b]illion out of one committee. And I just don't know how they would do it without [Medicaid]," Walsh said Monday. "I think the cuts to our state would be very very sizable."

Healey said Monday that 46% of the patients at Boston Children's Hospital are enrolled in Medicaid.

"Everyone needs to understand how very serious this threat is and everyone needs to understand the cuts that are being proposed in order to fund huge tax breaks for some of the richest people in the world are going to come on the backs of these patients and their families," she said.