Did Trump Really Vow to Defund Schools With Vaccine Mandates?
His campaign says he’s only threatening cuts to schools that require COVID shots — though that’s not clear from his stump speech.
During a rally in Richmond, Virginia, last weekend, Donald Trump made a number of wild, headline-generating remarks, from calling Joe Biden “Obama” to claiming that the current president’s border policies amount to a “conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America.” But one of his most incendiary comments didn’t garner much media attention.
“I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump declared.
On Saturday night, Barbara Comstock, a former Republican congresswoman from Virginia, drew scrutiny to the comment in an X post. She said Trump was essentially promising to cut millions in federal funding to Virginia public schools, which require a variety of childhood immunizations.
Trump said in Richmond, that he will take all federal funds away from public schools that require vaccines. Like most states, Virginia requires MMR vaccine, chickenpox vaccine, polio, etc. So Trump would take millions in federal funds away from all Virginia public schools.
— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) March 3, 2024
Indeed, all 50 states have legislation requiring specific vaccination for students. This is nothing new: Massachusetts issued the first school-immunization requirement in 1853. Many states align these mandates with the recommended childhood-vaccination schedule from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but they’re set by state, not federal, law. According to the CDC, “These laws often apply not only to children attending public schools but also to those attending private schools and day care facilities.”
While cutting federal funding might thrill the anti-vaxxer contingent in Trump’s base, this would be a radical policy change sure to enrage the vast majority of parents nationwide. Plus, he hasn’t come out against vaccines before and was quite insistent on claiming credit for COVID shots thanks to Operation Warp Speed.
So it’s hard to believe Trump suddenly became an anti-vaxxer, though video confirms Comstock accurately quoted him in Richmond. And the line — sometimes phrased as “I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or mask mandate, from kindergarten through college” — has actually appeared in numerous Trump speeches for at least a year.
I didn’t think he actually said this.
— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) March 3, 2024
But he did actually say this. pic.twitter.com/D7Nyjojvp8
The Trump campaign said this line refers solely to COVID-vaccination mandates for students, not older immunization requirements for diseases like polio, measles, and diphtheria.
“If you actually listen to the entire section, and also if you’ve been following his speeches for the past year, he’s talking about COVID vaccines in addition to masks in the same breath. This isn’t anything new he hasn’t said,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said via email.
Trump did not say the word COVID while discussing his education plans on Saturday, or in previous versions of his stump speech that featured similar phrasing. He said in Richmond:
On day one I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children. And I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate. I will keep men out of women’s sports, 100 percent.
Many people were unclear on whether Trump was referring to COVID-vaccine mandates or all vaccine mandates. In recent days, a handful of education and public-health professionals came to the conclusion that he was talking about the latter policy and expressed concerns about new disease outbreaks and the widespread defunding of public schools.
Or maybe he felt he had to one up RFK Jr’s organization who just declared poliovirus a hoax yesterday. Bad weekend for public health messaging
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) March 3, 2024
Parents across America:
— Arne Duncan (@arneduncan) March 3, 2024
Is this really what you want for your children?
Do you want them going to poorly funded schools with children much more likely to be sick?
Only an authoritarian leader would want citizens to be poorly educated and not healthy.
Truly dystopian… https://t.co/bkfBjYUfCG
While the overwhelming majority of Americans are in favor of K-12 vaccination requirements, there’s little chance that this brief line will cost Trump voters in November. First, it has largely gone unnoticed until now. And second, it’s an empty threat. Since the end of the federal public-health emergency, the few states that had COVID-vaccine mandates for students have dropped them, while 21 states still have laws specifically banning schools from requiring COVID shots. Also, the president doesn’t have the power to unilaterally withhold federal funding from school districts (Trump is reportedly looking to resurrect the president’s ability to block certain congressionally appropriated funds, but that would draw legal challenges).
Vowing to cut funding to “any school that has a vaccine mandate” might go over well with the people closely following Trump’s rallies right now. But it’s a line he can modify as the general election draws closer and will never have to make good on.