Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Sen. Michael Bennet on Thursday that he does not “anticipate” changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance on childhood vaccinations, even as several states move to ban vaccine mandates and eliminate school immunization requirements.
Kennedy said he expects the CDC’s vaccine scheduling recommendations for children — including shots for measles, mumps and rubella — to remain in place. “I think parents should be free [to get their children immunized],” he told the Colorado Democrat; when Bennet asked whether parents who want to vaccinate will be free and able to do so, Kennedy replied, “I assume they will be,” offering no further explanation.
Kennedy’s remarks came a day after Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced that the state would eliminate all vaccine requirements for schoolchildren, reversing a long-standing public health policy. Public health experts have said such school-entry requirements have been a key tool in preventing outbreaks and have helped avert millions of deaths over decades.
Ladapo, a long-time vaccine skeptic and opponent of mandates, called existing rules “wrong” and said officials do not have the right to dictate what parents put into their children’s bodies. “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” he said. “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right.”
The exchange between Kennedy and Bennet underscores a growing tension between federal public health guidance and state-level decisions that restrict or remove vaccine requirements. The CDC issues immunization schedules and clinical guidance, while states historically have set school-entry vaccination requirements; those differing roles mean federal recommendations do not automatically translate into mandates.
Sen. Bennet, D-Colo., pressed Kennedy on whether the administration would take steps to ensure parents who want vaccines for their children can obtain them, but Kennedy offered only the brief assurance that he assumed they would be able to. He did not outline any federal actions to secure access or to counteract state-level rollbacks of school vaccine rules.
Public health officials and infectious disease experts have for decades pointed to school immunization laws as a pillar of efforts to control vaccine-preventable diseases. Measles, in particular, requires high vaccination coverage to prevent outbreaks, and the MMR vaccine is included on the CDC’s routine childhood schedule. Advocates for removing mandates say such policies protect individual liberty and parental choice; critics warn that eliminating requirements could lower vaccination rates and increase the risk of communicable disease outbreaks.
The developments follow a broader national debate over public health authority, parental rights and state powers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing political disputes over vaccine policy. Federal agencies continue to provide clinical guidance and recommendations, but the balance between those recommendations and state laws will shape how vaccination policy is implemented at the local level.
Kennedy’s comments and Florida’s action are likely to fuel further debate in state legislatures and among public health officials about the future of school immunization requirements and how federal guidance should be interpreted amid divergent state policies. As of the exchange with Bennet, Kennedy did not announce any changes to CDC guidance or detail any federal response to states eliminating school vaccine mandates.