Eye health nonprofit Prevent Blindness is raising concerns following Congress’s decision to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vision and Eye Health program in final Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations legislation. The $2 million reduction — approved as part of the spending bill funding the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Education — reduces the program’s budget from $6.5 million to $4.5 million, eliminating nearly one-third of its resources.
The vote comes after months of uncertainty, including a 43-day federal government shutdown in the fall and a continuing resolution set to expire January 30, 2026. While Prevent Blindness acknowledges that Congress rejected deeper cuts proposed earlier in the budget process, the organization says the reduction to the Vision Health Initiative (VHI) will significantly weaken the nation’s ability to prevent avoidable vision loss.
“For a program that is already operating with limited resources, a cut of this magnitude will directly impact the CDC’s ability to carry out essential public health functions,” said Jeff Todd, President and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “The Vision Health Initiative plays an integral role in protecting the vision of millions of Americans, particularly those in underserved and high-risk communities.”
Since its establishment in 2003, VHI has helped integrate vision health into broader public health strategies by supporting community-level interventions, strengthening coordination across states, and maintaining the country’s only comprehensive national vision surveillance system. According to Prevent Blindness, these efforts are especially critical as rates of vision loss and eye disease continue to rise.
Among the program’s core activities, VHI provides grants to states to test innovative approaches to glaucoma detection and referral in rural communities, including the use of telehealth and artificial intelligence. It also operates the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS), which tracks how many Americans are living with vision impairment, who is receiving eye care, and why many do not. In addition, the initiative builds state and community capacity through its National Resource Center for Vision and Eye Health.
Vision loss remains one of the leading causes of disability in the United States. An estimated 7 million Americans have vision impairment that cannot be corrected with eyeglasses, including 1 million who are blind. Without sustained investment, Prevent Blindness warns that these numbers could double by 2050 due to population aging and the growing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes.
“At a time when chronic eye conditions are increasing, reducing funding sends the wrong message,” said Sara Everett Brown, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Prevent Blindness. “We appreciate that Congress preserved the Vision Health Initiative and maintained funding for the National Eye Institute, but we will continue advocating for stronger investments in FY 2027 to ensure eye health remains a public health priority.”
https://preventblindness.org/
The vote comes after months of uncertainty, including a 43-day federal government shutdown in the fall and a continuing resolution set to expire January 30, 2026. While Prevent Blindness acknowledges that Congress rejected deeper cuts proposed earlier in the budget process, the organization says the reduction to the Vision Health Initiative (VHI) will significantly weaken the nation’s ability to prevent avoidable vision loss.
“For a program that is already operating with limited resources, a cut of this magnitude will directly impact the CDC’s ability to carry out essential public health functions,” said Jeff Todd, President and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “The Vision Health Initiative plays an integral role in protecting the vision of millions of Americans, particularly those in underserved and high-risk communities.”
Since its establishment in 2003, VHI has helped integrate vision health into broader public health strategies by supporting community-level interventions, strengthening coordination across states, and maintaining the country’s only comprehensive national vision surveillance system. According to Prevent Blindness, these efforts are especially critical as rates of vision loss and eye disease continue to rise.
Among the program’s core activities, VHI provides grants to states to test innovative approaches to glaucoma detection and referral in rural communities, including the use of telehealth and artificial intelligence. It also operates the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS), which tracks how many Americans are living with vision impairment, who is receiving eye care, and why many do not. In addition, the initiative builds state and community capacity through its National Resource Center for Vision and Eye Health.
Vision loss remains one of the leading causes of disability in the United States. An estimated 7 million Americans have vision impairment that cannot be corrected with eyeglasses, including 1 million who are blind. Without sustained investment, Prevent Blindness warns that these numbers could double by 2050 due to population aging and the growing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes.
“At a time when chronic eye conditions are increasing, reducing funding sends the wrong message,” said Sara Everett Brown, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Prevent Blindness. “We appreciate that Congress preserved the Vision Health Initiative and maintained funding for the National Eye Institute, but we will continue advocating for stronger investments in FY 2027 to ensure eye health remains a public health priority.”
https://preventblindness.org/
