US states reject anti-vaccine bills as public health groups fight MAHA
By: Leah Douglas
Dozens of state anti-vaccine bills backed by "Make America Healthy Again" supporters have failed after public health groups won over Republican state lawmakers, marking a series of defeats for the backers of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The failures show a limit to the political power of the MAHA coalition groups that had set out this year to pass laws against mandatory vaccinations in at least 10 states, hoping to capitalize on a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment and their role in helping elect President Donald Trump.
Pro-vaccine groups and medical associations including American Families for Vaccines, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others lobbied in statehouses against bills seeking to end policies like school vaccine mandates, according to Reuters interviews with seven organizations.