On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order blocking federal funding for K-12 schools and universities that enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The order directs the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to issue guidelines ensuring compliance and to develop plans to eliminate “coercive COVID-19 vaccine mandates.” After signing the order in the Oval Office, Trump remarked, “That solves that problem.”
However, the order is expected to have little effect, as no states currently require COVID-19 vaccines for public K-12 students, and at least 21 states have already banned such mandates. Additionally, only 15 colleges—all private institutions—still require COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the advocacy group “No College Mandates.”
The executive order was signed just a day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Opposition to COVID-19 mandates has been a key issue for Trump supporters since former President Joe Biden implemented vaccine requirements for large businesses and federal employees in 2021.
Among those present at the signing was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vocal critic of vaccine mandates, who celebrated the move on X, calling it a “HUGE WIN for health freedom in America!!” She added that under Trump, children would no longer be forced to take vaccines they “don’t need.”
