By India Edwards HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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TUESDAY, Feb. 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order withholding funding from schools and universities that require students to be vaccinated against COVID.<\/p>\n
The move is part of Trump’s larger efforts to roll back vaccine mandates, despite studies showing that they help increase vaccination rates and reduce COVID deaths, according to a report from The New York Times<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n The impact of the Feb. 14 order is unclear, as no states require K-12 students to get the COVID vaccine.<\/p>\n The advocacy group No College Mandates<\/a> noted that only 15 colleges still required students to be vaccinated as of late last year.<\/p>\n But Trump’s order aligns with a larger anti-vaccine sentiment:<\/p>\n 21 states have already banned COVID vaccine mandates for students.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Some Republican lawmakers are pushing for broader bans, including a Montana proposal to block mRNA vaccines and an Idaho ban on local health departments offering any COVID vaccines.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that COVID vaccines are safe for children — and while young people are less likely to suffer severe illness, the virus has still harmed many kids.<\/p>\n Research shows that vaccine rules in schools helped more students get vaccinated and may have slowed the spread of COVID.<\/p>\n But some studies have also found that these rules made some people less trusting of public health guidelines, turning the issue into a political debate instead.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s latest executive order represents a shift from his first term, when his administration led the rapid development of COVID vaccines.<\/p>\n Those early vaccine rollouts saved an estimated 140,000 lives, The Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n The new policy follows Trump’s recent move to reinstate more than 8,000 troops who were discharged from the military for refusing the COVID vaccine.<\/p>\n The order only applies to COVID vaccines, leaving state-level requirements for measles, mumps, polio, and other childhood vaccines in place.<\/p>\n States still allow vaccine exemptions for medical, religious or personal reasons.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether the order will affect medical schools, some of which require COVID vaccinations for students.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on staying up to date with COVID vaccines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n