RFK Jr.’s vaccine moves put new focus on patchwork of state school standards

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By Lexi Lonas Cochran

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) childhood vaccine schedule are making school vaccination requirements an open question for the future.

While state health departments typically take their cues from the CDC, with schools following suit, the politicization of vaccines under Kennedy means states may increasingly forge their own paths.

But health experts say states such as Florida are already moving in the wrong direction, and this week’s changes to the vaccine schedule, reducing the number of shots recommended for children from 17 to 11, could encourage other states to take a step back from their mandatory inoculations.

… Unless states push for their own changes, there is likely to be little immediate impact from the federal shift. The national insurance trade group AHIP said all shots recommended by the CDC back in September will be covered at least through the end of 2026.  

But the turning of Kennedy’s longtime vaccine skepticism into policy will likely only fuel a greater divide among the states on the issue, as well as already declining vaccination rates.

“I do worry that other states may use a weakened CDC guidance as a justification to roll back their requirements, expand exemptions or stop enforcing existing laws, and we’re starting to see that signaled in a lot of states,” said Caitlin Gilmet, communications director for American Families for Vaccines.