Idaho and Florida banned vaccine mandates. Will others follow?
As anti-vaccine sentiment continues to grow, state health officials and medical leadership are working to emphasize the importance of vaccines and oppose efforts to remove mandates.
"We have a really strong, educated legislature that values evidence-based medicine, and they've seen the importance of vaccines in preventing unnecessary deaths," said Katherine Pannel, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association. "They have been really valuable. So when any legislation to weaken the vaccine legislation has come up, they have been on target and have killed any kind of legislation."
"I sincerely hope that other states don't do this. We're seeing at the national level an immense threat to the nation's vaccine policy," said Northe Saunders, president of American Families for Vaccines. "Any erosion at any level of government is going to put kids at risk and they're going to get sick and unfortunately, people are going to die."