RFK Jr reveals vaccine plan after first state bans school mandates

Robert F Kennedy Jr revealed the CDC's guidance on childhood vaccinations will most likely not change, despite states moving to ban vaccine mandates and doing away with immunization recommendations.

The Health and Human Services secretary told Sen Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, that he does not ‘anticipate’ changes to the CDC’s vaccine scheduling recommendations for children to receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shots.

He added that he thinks ‘parents should be free’ to get their children immunized.

When asked by Sen Bennet whether parents who want to vaccinate will be free and able to do so, Kennedy said: ‘I assume they will be' but provided no further explanation.

Kennedy's statements came a day after Florida Surgeon General Dr Joseph Ladapo, a long-time vaccine skeptic and mandate opponent, announced that the state was eliminating all vaccine requirements for school children, reversing policy that public health experts say has prevented millions of deaths.

'Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,' Lapado said on Wednesday. ‘Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right.’

Idaho became the first state to broadly outlaw vaccine mandates in April, prohibiting schools, businesses, and government entities from requiring any vaccinations for employment, services or education. Over a dozen other states are mulling over their own vaccination proposals that experts fear will lead to a rise in preventable illnesses.

Secretary Kennedy took heat from both sides of the aisle. Sen Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and a doctor, told Kennedy that under his leadership, 'effectively we are denying people vaccine due to confusion among physicians and patients about who can get the shot.

Kennedy replied: 'You're wrong,' adding that he is not taking away any vaccines and 'any confusion' about access is not his fault.

Kennedy has stated that his plans for his tenure do not include implementing efforts to restrict access to childhood vaccinations, adding that parents should have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to vaccinate their children, free from government pressure.

Just as Florida abolished ‘every last one’ of its school vaccine requirements this week, Pacific Coast states are forming an alliance to serve as a bulwark against what they see as dangerous policies that undercut long-standing science supporting the shots.

Over a dozen states implemented laws and policies regarding school requirements for Covid vaccination during and in the wake of the pandemic as a condition for in-person learning, which many maligned as government encroachment on parental freedom.

While Secretary Kennedy informed Senator Bennet that the CDC will not change childhood vaccination recommendations for the MMR vaccine, which is to give the first dose at 12 to 15 months old and the second dose at four to six years old, he did not address the scheduling of the other vaccines up for discussion in the near future, including those for hepatitis B, chickenpox and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Different states have different vaccine requirements for children entering school. Nearly every state has laws requiring students to be vaccinated against certain core diseases before entering public schools, including the MMR, Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP or Tdap) vaccine, and vaccines for polio, varicella and hepatitis B.

States have a patchwork of policies governing requirements for additional vaccines, though many are still highly recommended, including those for hepatitis A, human papillomavirus (HPV), rotavirus and influenza.

Nearly two dozen states have passed outright bans on Covid vaccine mandates.

Idaho's newly-enacted 'medical freedom' law that prohibits both public and private entities, including schools, businesses and government facilities, from requiring vaccines comes amid growing vaccine hesitancy and declining immunization rates nationwide.

All states allow medical exemptions for children with valid health reasons, such as a compromised immune system or severe allergies to ingredients of the shots. However, the rules for non-medical exemptions vary drastically.

Most states allow exemptions based on religious beliefs. The process to obtain one ranges from simply signing a form to providing a notarized letter from a religious official. A smaller number of states allow exemptions based on personal, moral, or philosophical objections.

California, New York, Maine, Connecticut, and West Virginia have eliminated both religious and philosophical exemptions for required school vaccines. Only medical exemptions are permitted.

Lawmakers in over 15 states are introducing bills this year to expand religious exemptions from vaccine mandates, create state-level vaccine injury databases, and regulate medical advice about immunizations.

Proposals to allow more families to opt out of school vaccination requirements on religious grounds are particularly widespread, with active legislative efforts in states New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Mississippi and Indiana.

During the 2024-2025 school year, US kindergarten vaccination rates declined for all routine vaccines, with coverage falling to between 92.1 percent for DTaP and 92.5 percent for MMR and polio. Roughly 95 percent coverage is necessary for broad population immunity.

While millions of Americans have applauded HHS’ efforts to reevaluate the safety of vaccines that have been on the market for decades, millions of others fear that they will soon have a harder time accessing vaccines for their children.

Washington, DC pediatrician Dr Lanre Falusi told NPR: 'For the first time, I'm having parents of newborns ask me if their baby will still be able to get vaccines.'

Anxious parents across the US, especially those relying on Medicaid, which insures 40 percent of all American children, are worried about accessing routine immunizations for their children.

In his question to RFK Jr., Bennet noted that many other childhood vaccines are up for discussion at future meetings of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, whose membership was recently expanded to include physicians and professors who have previously raised concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Ultimately, every recommendation made by the ACIP must be approved by the Secretary of HHS.

The committee’s agenda includes discussions about recommending vaccines for hepatitis B, Covid, measles, mumps and rubella, varicella, and Across the vast majority of the US, children entering school must get all of these vaccines, with the exceptions of Covid and RSV.

Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in a statement to NPR in June after ACIP membership was changed: ‘There is no cause for concern…As Secretary Kennedy has stated, no one will be denied access to a licensed vaccine if they choose to receive one.

‘When the ACIP committee met last month, they reaffirmed that flu vaccines will remain accessible and covered, and they emphasized safety by ensuring these vaccines are mercury-free.’

The committee voted in June to recommend that adults and children no longer receive flu vaccines made with the compound thimerosal, which contains mercury, but is rarely used in flu vaccines.

When approached for comment about Kennedy’s responses to questions about vaccine scheduling, Hilliard told the Daily Mail that ACIP will meet later this month to discuss several vaccines, including the MMR.

The MMR vaccine has been deemed safe and effective since the yearly 1960s, while the hepatitis B and varicella vaccines have been around since 1981 and 1995, respectively.

The Covid and RSV vaccines are more recent, having been fully approved by the FDA in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

A portion of Kennedy's questioning on Thursday pertained to the recent firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was ousted after resisting pressure from RFK Jr and allies to change vaccine policy and terminate senior staff.

In protest of her removal, three top officials resigned, alleging they were pushed to make vaccine recommendations without a scientific basis, which they feared would endanger Americans.

When asked about an op-ed in which she detailed the context of her firing, RFK Jr insisted 'she's lying.'

RFK Jr said: ‘We are the sickest people in the world, that’s why we need to fire people at the CDC…I need to fire some of those people.’