Idaho restricts vaccine mandates
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Idaho will enforce a first-in-the-nation ban on vaccine mandates in businesses and schools this summer after legislators on the last day of their session passed a revised "medical freedom" bill.
Why it matters: The ban reflects a growing distrust of immunizations among Americans that helped install vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation's top health official.
- More than a dozen states have introduced bills to ban medical intervention requirements or restrict the use of certain vaccine types, sometimes singling out mRNA shots, according to Bloomberg Law.
State of play: Gov. Brad Little (R) signed a bill last week that prohibits government entities, schools and companies doing business in Idaho from denying admission or services to a person because they haven't received a "medical intervention," including a vaccine, procedure or medication.
- Little vetoed a similar bill last month, saying it infringed on parental freedom by jeopardizing schools' ability to send home kids with contagious conditions.
- State lawmakers then passed a revised version clarifying that the policy is subject to existing school requirements, making that provision effectively moot. Entities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding are also exempt from the anti-mandate requirements.
- Little signed the revised legislation on Friday, and it goes into effect on July 1.
- Idaho already had the highest rate of kindergarteners with vaccine exemptions of any state in the 2023-2024 school year, according to Centers for Disease Control data.
What they're saying: "The law itself is probably the best that could be done to make sure that mandates were preserved," said Richard Hughes, a professor of vaccine law at George Washington University and a partner at Epstein, Becker & Green.
- But Hughes said he's concerned Idaho's separate parental rights law will be invoked in ways that undermine the vaccine requirements that are allowed to continue under the legislation.
- "That is the beginning of an era of vaccine mandate policy and litigation that I'm really concerned about," Hughes told Axios.
What to watch: Idaho is one of three states that debated banning mRNA vaccines this year, though no states have actually passed such a policy.
- Other states like Louisiana have stopped promoting mass vaccination.
