Trump calls for withholding federal money from schools and colleges that require COVID vaccines [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 2:39 PM EST, February 14, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools, colleges and states that require students to be immunized against COVID-19 may be at risk of losing federal money under a White House order signed Friday by President Donald Trump.
The order is expected to have little national impact because COVID-19 vaccine mandates have mostly been dropped at schools and colleges across the United States, and many states have passed legislation forbidding such mandates. The order directs the Education Department and Health and Human Services to create a plan to end vaccine mandates for COVID-19. It isn’t clear what money the plan would use as leverage.
Most federal education money is ordered by Congress. It aims to fulfill a campaign promise from Trump, who often said he would “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate.” The order applies only to COVID-19 vaccines. All states have laws requiring that children attending schools be vaccinated against certain diseases including measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox.
All U.S. states allow exemptions for children with medical conditions that prevent them from getting certain vaccines. Most also allow exemptions for religious or other nonmedical reasons.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-mandate-ee3bcd198dec8e6cf61546f2bbe688bf
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