--- title: Zika: Obama Administration Reallocates $81 Million description: The Obama administration will put $81 million toward fighting the Zika virus canonical: https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-11T19:39:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:15.762Z article:section: Health og:title: Obama Administration Moves $81 Million to Fight Zika og:description: The money will come from the Department of Health and Human Services og:url: https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Administration Moves $81 Million to Fight Zika twitter:description: The money will come from the Department of Health and Human Services twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Obama Administration Moves $81 Million to Fight Zika > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=28e99ec5-9d2b-4fed-ae33-1a52987ce8b8&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Florida Governor Speaks Out on Zika Outbreak [Watch (HLS stream): Florida Governor Speaks Out on Zika Outbreak](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CUdEl3kx.m3u8) (0:43)  _Published 2016-07-29. Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks out and assures the public the recent Florida Zika outbreak is locally concentrated to two cities._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 11, 2016 7:39 PM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 11, 2016 7:39 PM UTC The Obama administration will put $81 million toward fighting the [Zika virus](http://time.com/4318624/zika-virus-and-birth-defects-what-you-need-to-know/). The administration plans to shift the money from the Department of Health and Human Services, a letter from HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell sent Thursday said. [The Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/08/11/obama-administration-to-shift-81-million-to-fight-zika/?wpisrc=al%5Falert-politics) reports that Burwell told Congressional leaders she intends to transfer $34 million from other programs at the National Institute of Health and $47 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority budget. Burwell said the two programs would likely run out of money by the end of the month to fight off the [spread of Zika](http://time.com/4304583/what-every-woman-need-to-know-about-zika/), and would need $538 million over the next year. Funding for Zika has become a [point of contention recently](http://time.com/4445518/zika-florida-four-more-cases/), as the virus spreads in the U.S. Florida currently has more than [380 cases of Zika](http://time.com/4447110/zika-virus-florida-rick-scott/), and state Governor Rick Scott has repeatedly called on Congress to provide funding to combat the virus. The administration is seeking $1.9 billion to fight Zika, according to the _Post_, but Congress remains deadlocked over the matter. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/"},"headline":"Obama Administration Moves $81 Million to Fight Zika","datePublished":"2016-08-11T19:39:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:15.762Z","description":"The administration plans to shift the money from the Department of Health and Human Services","url":"https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/","keywords":["Zika"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/","name":"Obama Administration Moves $81 Million to Fight Zika"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Florida Governor Speaks Out on Zika Outbreak","description":"Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks out and assures the public the recent Florida Zika outbreak is locally concentrated to two cities.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/CUdEl3kx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-29T15:54:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CUdEl3kx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/","duration":"PT43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4449059/obama-administration-money-fight-zika/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```