Yesterday, Florida’s Surgeon General announced that the state will end all vaccine mandates, including for school children, the first state in the nation to do so. Until now, all 50 states and D.C. had long-standing laws requiring children starting school to be vaccinated against diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and polio at federally recommended ages. This move comes as measles cases hit their highest levels since the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, and amid rising exemption rates for school-age children.
As Florida moves to end its mandates, early release findings from a new KFF-Washington Post survey show that parents overwhelmingly support current laws that require children to be vaccinated against diseases like measles and polio. The latest poll shows that eight in ten (81%) parents nationally support these requirements, with some medical or religious exceptions, and just one in five (18%) say public schools shouldn’t require measles or polio vaccines for any students. This holds true across partisans: three quarters of Republican parents say public schools should require vaccines for measles and polio, including 73% of those who identify with the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement. Florida parents’ views are similar to those nationwide, with 82% saying public schools should require these vaccines and 17% saying they should not.
Partisan divisions over vaccine policy emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and polls at the time showed the public was sharply divided on whether schools should require COVID-19 vaccines. Since then, public trust in government vaccine guidance has eroded and CDC data show routine vaccination rates among kindergarteners continue to decline. However, the public overwhelmingly continues to express confidence in the safety of measles vaccines, despite partisan divisions around COVID-19, and this new poll shows most parents still support measles vaccine requirements in public schools. Amid changes to national vaccine policy under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Florida becomes the first state to announce an end to vaccine mandates. At the same time, California, Oregon, and Washington have announced plans to make their own vaccine recommendations, citing concerns that federal guidance is being unduly influenced by political concerns. Other states in the Northeast are reportedly considering a similar alliance. The likely result may be a patchwork of vaccine guidance that is likely to lead to confusion among parents and may further undermine trust in some of these long-standing, life-saving vaccines.