All the States That Have Banned School Vaccine Mandates

The CDC recently added COVID-19 vaccines to children's schedule

A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Sept. 30, 2014. Tami Chappell/Reuters

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adds COVID-19 vaccines to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults, at least 20 states have passed legislation or issued rules barring school systems from mandating the vaccines.

The National Academy for State Health Policy, in a Feb. 6 update, shows there are about two dozen states that have barred COVID-19 vaccines from being included in mandates for schools and students: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

Officials in other states, including California, have announced they will not require students to get the shots. On Feb. 3, California’s Department of Public Health said “that the state will not require the COVID-19 vaccine for school attendance,” the website noted.

To date, not a single state has passed legislation or implemented an order to mandate COVID-19 vaccines to attend class, according to the academy. But the District of Columbia has a student COVID-19 vaccine mandate, although it has been delayed until the start of the 2023–2024 school year, after the D.C. City Council voted last November to do so.

The academy has issued updates on COVID-19 vaccine mandates and bans on them since the CDC signaled that it could add those vaccines to its recommended child immunization schedule. While the CDC’s guidelines are only recommendations, many states and municipalities rely on them to set policies.

Laws in at least 31 states and the District of Columbia require the vaccines on the CDC schedules to be taken by children for school attendance, said the Policy, Practice, and Prevention Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Public Health last year. Other states sometimes impose requirements that mostly align with the schedules.

Response

Last year, when the CDC advisory panel voted to recommend adding the COVID-19 vaccines to the childhood immunization schedule, a number of governors had indicated they would not make them mandatory.

“Under my watch, there will be no COVID vaccine mandates for kids—period,” said Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa. “In fact, we signed a law that prevents it. It’s the parent’s decision, not the government’s.”

An 11-year-old girl watches as a nurse prepares a syringe with a dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City on Nov. 3, 2021. Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis noted that some parents are concerned about the CDC’s guidelines, telling reporters there is a “fear” that schools would force shots on children. “So I just want to let everyone be clear. You know, as long as I’m around and as long as I’m kicking and screaming, there will be no COVID shot mandates for your kids. That is your decision to make as a parent,” he said.

And at the time, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, wrote: “I trust parents to raise their kids and do what’s best for their kids’ health. On my watch, the State of Montana will not mandate the COVID-19 vaccine.”

A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom last year said that the “main impact” of the CDC’s recommendation would be that “health insurance companies will be required to cover the cost of the immunization and that the federal government can continue to provide it for free to low-income families.”

Schedule Update

The CDC’s 2023 immunization schedule for children and adolescents, released on Feb. 9, includes shots for flu, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), polio, and other inoculations—and now COVID-19. The CDC doesn’t have the authority to issue mandates for vaccines.

Last year, all members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to add the Moderna, Pfizer, and Novavax vaccines to the 2023 schedules, asserting that the vaccines can prevent severe disease—despite studies showing waning effectiveness of the shots.

“We view this as COVID is here to stay,” Dr. Matthew Daley, one of the advisers, said in a meeting. “When I think about the routine immunization schedule as a pediatrician, I think of it as an opportunity to prevent serious disease and death. And if something is added to the schedule, it’s because I feel like the benefits continue to strongly outweigh the risks.”

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.