TUESDAY, Feb. 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order withholding funding from schools and universities that require students to be vaccinated against COVID.
The move is part of Trump’s larger efforts to roll back vaccine mandates, despite studies showing that they help increase vaccination rates and reduce COVID deaths, according to a report from The New York Times.
The impact of the Feb. 14 order is unclear, as no states require K-12 students to get the COVID vaccine.
The advocacy group No College Mandates noted that only 15 colleges still required students to be vaccinated as of late last year.
But Trump’s order aligns with a larger anti-vaccine sentiment:
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21 states have already banned COVID vaccine mandates for students.
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Some Republican lawmakers are pushing for broader bans, including a Montana proposal to block mRNA vaccines and an Idaho ban on local health departments offering any COVID vaccines.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that COVID vaccines are safe for children — and while young people are less likely to suffer severe illness, the virus has still harmed many kids.
Research shows that vaccine rules in schools helped more students get vaccinated and may have slowed the spread of COVID.
But some studies have also found that these rules made some people less trusting of public health guidelines, turning the issue into a political debate instead.
Trump’s latest executive order represents a shift from his first term, when his administration led the rapid development of COVID vaccines.
Those early vaccine rollouts saved an estimated 140,000 lives, The Times reported.
The new policy follows Trump’s recent move to reinstate more than 8,000 troops who were discharged from the military for refusing the COVID vaccine.
The order only applies to COVID vaccines, leaving state-level requirements for measles, mumps, polio, and other childhood vaccines in place.
States still allow vaccine exemptions for medical, religious or personal reasons.
It’s unclear whether the order will affect medical schools, some of which require COVID vaccinations for students.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on staying up to date with COVID vaccines.
SOURCE: The New York Times, media report, Feb. 14, 2025
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