At a recent campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia, Trump vowed: reduce funds For “schools with vaccine mandates or mask mandates.” Although Trump's campaign has made it clear that he is talking about making coronavirus vaccinations mandatory, there are still concerns that Trump will accelerate an already worrisome trend of declining child vaccinations. It has not been wiped away.
Currently, no state requires students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but many other vaccinations are required, including measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, pertussis, and chickenpox.
Throughout his election campaign, Trump danced around vaccine, both seek credit for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine while criticizing its use. The former president's threat means little because no school requires COVID-19 vaccinations.
“If you actually listen to this whole section, and if you've been following his speeches over the past year, you'll find that in addition to masks, he's also talking about the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time. This is nothing new,” Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan said in an email.
Still, public health experts like Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, are concerned about Trump's type of criticism and rhetoric. encourage others He will likely pursue measures in the same vein as he is proposing, especially if he is re-elected.
“I worry about administrations that don't follow good evidence and science that they're going to put more and more people like them in office,” Benjamin said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of kindergarteners whose parents refused school-required vaccinations was highest level ever during the 2022-2023 academic year.
