President Trump’s vaccine order looks to challenge state exemption laws

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to challenge state vaccine laws, sparking debate over who has the authority to set vaccination requirements.

“This announcement is a major victory for parents’ rights, religious and constitutional rights,” Trump said.

“This executive order directs the attorney general to advance legal challenges against states that violate children’s rights to religious or medical vaccination exemptions,” he added.

The order targets states like New York, which allows medical exemptions but not religious ones, as well as Maine, Connecticut, and California, which have eliminated religious or other nonmedical exemptions for most schoolchildren.

Lawrence Gostin, from the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, said, “The Supreme Court has said on multiple occasions that states have sole authority to set vaccination requirements.”

The executive order also directs federal agencies, including the Justice Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education, to ensure their contractors and grantees comply with federal law.

Michele Goodwin, also from the O’Neill Institute, said, “State attorneys general would definitely challenge the Trump administration from doing this.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it is “closely reviewing the executive order and its potential implications for California,” but declined to preview whether it could bring a new legal challenge.

Bonta is already involved in a separate legal fight with the Trump administration over vaccines. In February, he co-led a multistate lawsuit challenging changes to the federal childhood vaccine schedule. A federal judge in California is scheduled to hear arguments September 3 on the administration’s motion to dismiss that case.

Pediatricians warn that the fight over exemptions could have broader implications. Dr. James Campbell, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, said, “The more non-medical exemptions that we have, it is likely that there will be more people who choose not to vaccinate.”

For now, nothing changes immediately for families under current state vaccine laws. States that could be directly affected, including New York and Maine, declined to comment, while California has not yet responded.

More than half of U.S. states follow vaccine guidelines that differ from those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to data, 29 states and Washington, D.C., rely on other sources for childhood vaccine recommendations, with three states partially following CDC guidelines.