The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded Connecticut a $579,055 grant to help protect residents from the Zika virus and monitor adverse health impacts, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Monday.
The governor and the state’s Congressional delegation jointly announced the award.
The state’s Department of Public Health will administer the funds, which will also be put toward monitoring serious birth defects like microcephaly, Malloy said. Funding was reallocated from other federal CDC accounts, he added.
The grant will be used to enable the state to prepare for coordinated responses to the presence of the disease, Malloy said.
“This federal funding will greatly enhance our current Zika testing program at the state laboratory, mosquito surveillance being conducted by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and will allow us to establish a monitoring program through DPH’s Birth Registry that will track infants born with Zika-related birth defects,” DPH Commissioner Dr. Raul Pino said.
The Connecticut delegation welcomed the award in a statement, but noted that while the money can be spent to help enable local tracking and monitoring of Zika cases and mosquito populations, it cannot be applied to development of a Zika vaccine or other prevention efforts.
