Trump orders defunding of schools, universities that mandate COVID vaccines.
The order, signed by Trump in the Oval Office, instructs the departments of Education and Health and Human Services to issue guidelines to comply with the order and create plans to “end coercive COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
“That solves that problem,” Trump said after signing the order.
However, the order will likely have a minimal impact. No states currently require COVID-19 vaccinations for students at K-12 public schools, and at least 21 states have passed laws banning vaccine mandates.
Only 15 colleges ‒ all private institutions ‒ still require COVID-19 vaccination shots, according to “No College Mandates,” an advocacy group that opposes COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
Trump’s order came one day after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccination skeptic, was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as the nation’s top health official.
Fighting COVID-19 mandates became a rallying cry for Trump supporters after former President Joe Biden pushed vaccine requirements for large businesses and the federal workforce in 2021, his first year in office.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., an outspoken vaccination critic, was among those in the Oval Office to watch Trump sign the order. “HUGE WIN for health freedom in America!!” she wrote on X. “Under President Trump, we will no longer force our kids to take vaccines they don’t need!”