President Trump expressed reservations Friday about Florida moving to eliminate school vaccine mandates, calling it a “very tough position” and arguing some vaccines are uncontroversial.
“I think we have to be very careful. You have some vaccines that are so amazing,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, citing the polio vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed during his first term.
“You have some vaccines that are so incredible. I think you have to be very careful when you say some people don’t have to be vaccinated,” Trump continued. “It’s a very tough position. Just initially I heard about it yesterday, and it’s a tough stance.”
“Look, you have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all, and I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people,” Trump added. “And when you don’t have controversy at all, I think people should take it.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made the announcement Wednesday, with Ladapo comparing vaccine requirements to slavery.
Ladapo said his department will repeal what mandates are under his control, and the state Legislature will have to take care of the rest.
School districts in Florida, like others across the country, require vaccinations for polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella, pertussis, mumps, tetanus and other communicable diseases.
The decision comes as vaccination rates among children are already on the decline and as the federal government has taken the COVID-19 vaccine off the recommended list for healthy children.
Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed anti-vaccine views for years. Throughout his tenure, he has unilaterally changed recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines, cut funding for mRNA research, purged influential members of the Centers for Disesae Control and Prevention vaccine advisory panel, and hinted at major changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
He has faced criticism from Democrats — and even some Republicans who voted to confirm him — over the moves.
