President Donald Trump on Feb. 14 signed an executive order barring funding to universities and schools with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The order, detailed in a fact sheet provided by the White House, will prohibit all federal funding to any schools that implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates and directs the secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services to issue compliance guidelines and plans to end existing mandates. The secretaries will also create a report of non-compliant institutions and a process for blocking funds from supporting any that impose mandates.
The institutions affected include educational service agencies, state education agencies, local education agencies, elementary schools, secondary schools, or any institutions of higher education that require students to receive COVID-19 vaccines to attend in-person educational programs.
“President Trump is committed to protecting personal freedoms and ensuring that Americans’ education isn’t conditioned on unnecessary government mandates,” the White House fact sheet states. “[He] is dedicated to ensuring that American students are not forced to choose between their education and their medical freedom ... fulfilling his campaign promise: ‘I will not allow schools to impose COVID vaccine mandates.’”
In his first week back in office, Trump reinstated service members dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine, giving them full back pay and benefits. He also revoked former President Joe Biden’s executive order creating vaccine mandates for certain federal workers, federal contractors, and those traveling internationally, although Biden had previously rescinded them himself in May 2023.
Trump campaigned against COVID-19 vaccine mandates during the 2024 election, saying at a rally in Richmond, Virginia, that he would “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.” When asked if that statement intended to include all vaccine mandates, such as polio or measles shots, a campaign spokesperson at the time said Trump meant COVID vaccine mandates.
While some, including Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, have advocated against receiving the COVID vaccine altogether, Trump has continued to acknowledge the work his first administration did in fast-tracking the research, development, and implementation of the vaccine through his “Operation Warp Speed.”
In December 2020, Trump spoke at the “Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit” at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, calling the project a “monumental national achievement.”
“From the instant the coronavirus invaded our shores, we raced into action to develop a safe and effective vaccine at breakneck speed,” Trump said. “It would normally take five years, six years, seven years, or even more. ... We’re just days away from authorization from the FDA, and we’re pushing them hard, at which point we will immediately begin mass distribution.”
Trump noted then that the time frame for developing and approving an experimental vaccine like the mRNA shot “could be infinity,” but his administration was able to “get things done at a level nobody has ever seen before. The gold standard vaccine has been done in less than nine months.”
Some critics of the mRNA shot, including those with reported side effects, have suggested that not enough time was spent on research and testing before the vaccine was mass-distributed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has maintained that the shot is safe and effective.
