Tester Secures More Than $32 Million for the Montana Public Health Laboratory

Funds will support lab capacity for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, including COVID-19

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that he has secured $32,191,069 in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services to support the Montana state laboratory’s capacity for the prevention and control of infectious diseases including COVID-19.

“While things in Montana are improving, the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, and the only way to get our economy back up and running for good is to beat it once and for all,” Tester said. “This funding will provide the Montana state lab the resources it needs to get this virus under control, and will help us keep children in school, get folks back to work and keep our state’s recovery from this pandemic continuing in the right direction.”

This funding was secured through the recently passed American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law last month. The package included $20 billion funding for vaccine production, procurement, and distribution fought for by Tester. He was the only member of Montana’s delegation to vote for the package.

As vaccinations efforts continue across the state, Tester has been working tirelessly to deliver critical resources to Montana communities to help get COVID-19 vaccines and testing to those who want them. He has worked to bring thousands of additional vaccine doses into Montana, and his bipartisan legislation to allow the VA to provide COVID-19 vaccination services to all veterans, veteran spouses, caregivers, and Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs recipients was signed into law earlier this month.