The news: Florida state’s surgeon general and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a ban of required immunizations such as measles, mumps, chickenpox, whooping cough, and polio.

What’s led to this: States set the vaccine requirements for schools and childcare facilities, but federal health agencies review and approve vaccines, and offer recommendations for childhood schedules. However, HHS head Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has questioned the value of vaccines and opened investigations into long-approved ones.

• In May, Kennedy changed the CDC’s list of recommended immunizations, removing the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy pregnant women and healthy children.
• In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and installed 8 handpicked members that included several vaccine skeptics.

Why it matters: While Florida's ban aligns with the beliefs of leaders like Kennedy and Dr. Mehmet Oz, it goes against the advice of most medical experts and public health advocates. These experts worry that immunization bans could lead to infectious disease outbreaks.

Zooming out: While childhood vaccination rates have declined since the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of Americans think vaccines should be required to attend school.

• 92.5% of kindergarteners were vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and polio for the 2024-2025 school year, down from 95% in 2019-2020, per KFF. For context: 95% is the minimum vaccination rate needed to prevent community transmission of measles.
• 16 states, including Florida, reported kindergarten MMR vaccination rates below 90%.