States Echo RFK Jr. Agenda in Push for Ban on Vaccine Mandates

State legislators are moving to advance US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push for greater scrutiny of vaccines, introducing a wave of bills that would limit or ban the use of messenger RNA shots and prohibit vaccine mandates.

Idaho this month passed a first-of-its-kind law prohibiting vaccine requirements as a condition for employment or school attendance. At least 15 other states have pending bills seeking to ban Covid-19 or mRNA vaccine mandates, establish a vaccine bill of rights, or prohibit any immunization containing mRNA material. Some bills would require manufacturers to label foods containing mRNA, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Government.

The bills echo Kennedy’s skepticism of vaccine safety, which includes promoting discredited theories and holding positions connected to an anti-vaccine group. Proposed prohibitions on mandates have come up in previous state legislature sessions, but momentum is ramping up with a secretary that shares supporting views, attorneys say.

“There’s been this underlying freedom of choice movement that’s been there for a long time around vaccines,” said Richard H. Hughes IV, a member at Epstein Becker & Green PC and an expert on vaccine access.

“This is like a populist movement behind President Trump, sort of spurred on by the Covid-19 pandemic, which meets up with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” Hughes said. “You blend all this together, and we’re living in a time where anti-vaccine policy is finding its way into the books.”

Kennedy promised to review the science behind vaccine safety and childhood immunization schedules, but he’s faced pushback from public health advocates who say the move ignores safety data approved by federal regulators.

His messaging about vaccine effectiveness has also been inconsistent—specifically amid a measles outbreak across the US that has killed two unvaccinated children in Texas.

Kennedy wrote in an April 5 post on X that the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” It was his clearest endorsement of the measles, mumps, and rubella shot.

Hours later, Kennedy claimed in another post that two Texas doctors “healed” about 300 children with measles by using a steroid treatment and an antibiotic. Neither is proven to treat the viral infection.

Kennedy in an interview with CBS on April 9 said “people should get the measles vaccine,” but “the government should not be mandating those.” He also raised doubts in the interview about Novavax Inc.'s Covid-19 vaccine.

State Action

Vaccine-related bills introduced in states this year include limiting the use of mRNA technology and broadly prohibiting immunization requirements. They have varying odds of being enacted.

At least 12 states are considering legislation on mRNA vaccines, which trigger an immune response to teach the body how fight a particular virus. Kennedy and others have questioned the safety of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s backing and ongoing safety monitoring.

Republicans in Montana, New York, South Carolina, and Texas are sponsoring bills to prohibit the administration of Covid-19 vaccines or any medical product containing mRNA material, as well as mandates for those products.

In Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, legislators want pharmaceutical products to explicitly include mRNA technology in their ingredients list or specify if foods were derived from animals or other sources that received mRNA vaccinations.

Some legislation mirrors the Idaho law, with a Republican-sponsored bill in New York (AB 3807) seeking to establish the right of a person “to determine what is in their own best medical interest without threat to their livelihood, schooling, or freedom of movement.”

In Texas, a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 91) would give residents within the state an “unalienable and natural right to refuse a vaccination.”

A bill (HB 357) that passed the New Hampshire state House in March would limit childhood immunization requirements to diseases identified in statute, including mumps, pertussis, and tetanus. It would remove the state health commissioner’s authority to adopt rules requiring additional shots and expire existing vaccine mandates for chickenpox and other infections by June 30, 2026.

Democrats in the state have criticized the legislation, arguing it will remove a rigorous decision-making process led by infectious disease professionals and hand responsibility over to legislators with political agendas.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jim Kofalt (R), said in an interview that lawmakers make efforts to weigh the testimony of subject matter experts, but a “mandated medical intervention is a pretty serious matter.”

The legislation “really puts the decision-making power into the hands of parents,” Kofalt said.

‘Freedom of Choice’

Lawmakers and “Make America Healthy Again” proponents say the time is ripe for legislation that prioritizes consumer choice and limits explicit government directives.

“What you have right now is a moment where the citizens of this country are not only engaged and wanting change, they’re empowered and believing they have the power to make change,” said Del Bigtree, CEO of MAHA Action, a grassroots group promoting Kennedy’s agenda.

Bigtree in a press hearing in February said MAHA Action hired professional investigators and scientists to go through bills across the US, determining whether the legislation aligns with the MAHA movement. The tracker would allow the public to view how state representatives are voting on issues related to MAHA, according to Bigtree.

At a press conference in Utah on April 7 promoting MAHA legislation, Kennedy said “it’s a moral imperative that we all believe in freedom of choice in this country.”

Aimee Pugh Bernard, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said in an interview that “having choice is a good thing,” but “it needs to be based on evidence and science.”

She noted that vaccine mandates are essential for individuals who are immunocompromised or too young to receive certain vaccines.

“There are all kinds of people in the community that rely on other people to get vaccinated to shield them from these dangerous diseases,” Bernard said.