Activists Challenge Vaccine Mandates During Measles Outbreak
As South Carolina contends with a measles outbreak infecting nearly 1,000 individuals, groups connected to US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are advocating to remove immunization requirements designed to protect children.
These activists are focusing on vaccine mandates in states attempting to control measles outbreaks, while communities nationwide face the most severe spread of the disease in decades. has identified anti-vaccine organizations encouraging their supporters to oppose vaccine mandates in over 20 states, including at least six currently experiencing measles outbreaks.
Key figures in this campaign include the anti-vaccine organization formerly led by Kennedy, a group managed by his longtime book publisher Tony Lyons, and Leslie Manookian, a filmmaker, homeopath, and activist whom Kennedy has described as a friend.
Health Experts Warn of Consequences from Weakening Vaccine Laws
Medical professionals and child health advocates caution that eliminating or diluting vaccine mandates, particularly those requiring school immunizations, will reduce vaccination rates and increase illness and hardship for families.
“We will see more outbreaks. We will see children missing school, parents missing work,” said Dr. Jana Shaw, an infectious disease specialist who has researched vaccine hesitancy. “We will see increased costs for those families whose children will get sick and develop complications and disability. Some of them will die.”
The groups advocating for the removal of such laws argue that vaccine mandates infringe on individuals' freedom to participate in activities like school or work without compulsory immunization. They often support their stance with misleading or false information that exaggerates vaccine risks and minimizes the dangers of the diseases vaccines prevent.
Importance of School Immunization Requirements
School immunization mandates are critical in maintaining high vaccination rates and keeping infections such as measles and pertussis (whooping cough) low. Dr. Shaw’s research indicates that children living in counties with higher rates of vaccine refusal face increased risk of pertussis. Even vaccinated children in these communities are at greater risk because the illness spreads more readily.
Moreover, Shaw noted that research shows children intentionally exempted from vaccination can become sources of pertussis and measles outbreaks in schools.
“It never is just about you,” said Shaw, a professor of pediatrics at SUNY Upstate Medical University. “That’s why we have those immunization laws, because we recognize that your choices impact others.”
Medical Freedom Act Coalition and Its Campaign
Among the groups pushing for legislative changes is the recently established Medical Freedom Act Coalition, which unites 15 organizations advocating for laws modeled on Idaho’s 2025 legislation that prohibits medical mandates in many settings. Coalition organizers oppose all forms of medical mandates.
“This is the most basic human right, the right to decide what we put into and on our bodies,” said Leslie Manookian, a leader of the coalition based in Idaho and a key figure behind the state’s law.
The coalition is led by Manookian’s Health Freedom Defense Fund and Stand for Health Freedom, an organization actively influencing vaccine-related legislation. Among the coalition’s 15 members are Kennedy-affiliated anti-vaccine groups including Skyhorse Publishing, run by Tony Lyons, and Children's Health Defense, which Kennedy led before joining the Trump administration.
Manookian asserted the coalition does not disseminate false information.
“Epidemiological data is being used politically and selectively to create a scapegoat for routine infection rates that rise and fall, every year,” Manookian said.
She announced the coalition’s formation during a Maha Action organizing video call in January attended by Kennedy and his deputy chief of staff, Stefanie Spear. These weekly calls, typically lasting an hour, feature speakers promoting efforts aligned with Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Although Kennedy spoke on a different subject—whole milk—he acknowledged Manookian at the conclusion of his remarks.
“I see a lot of my friends out there. I see Leslie Manookian,” Kennedy said.
Manookian stated that no Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) personnel have participated in the Medical Freedom Act Coalition, and she is uncertain whether Kennedy is aware of its activities.
HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard affirmed that vaccination remains the most effective method to prevent measles but did not comment on whether Kennedy supports the coalition’s efforts to end school vaccine mandates.
Legislative Efforts and Opposition
The coalition has supported bills aiming to end vaccine mandates in Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, New York, Oklahoma, Vermont, and other states, according to Jill Hines, director of advocacy for Stand for Health Freedom.
Some proposed bills have failed to progress. For example, a bill in New Hampshire to prohibit school vaccine mandates was defeated with opposition from both Republicans and Democrats.
After a medical freedom bill failed in Iowa, advocates shifted support to a different bill that would modify vaccine requirements. Hines indicated additional legislation is forthcoming.
Besides these bills, Stand for Health Freedom has issued action alerts urging supporters to contact governors and legislators to advocate ending vaccine mandates in 19 states. This list includes at least six states currently experiencing measles outbreaks: South Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Utah, North Dakota, and one other.
In South Carolina, the group released an appeal encouraging supporters to email members of a legislative committee to oppose a bill introduced in February by a Democratic lawmaker. The bill would require children to receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine before attending school.
“I don’t see how the two are even connected,” said Hines, responding to concerns that removing mandates could increase illnesses and child mortality. “If anybody is concerned about it, they can still go get a vaccine. What we want to prevent is the coerced medicalization of individuals, especially children.”
Vaccination Rates and Exemptions in South Carolina
South Carolina mandates school vaccinations but allows families to opt out through religious or medical exemptions. In recent years, exemption numbers have risen while vaccination rates have declined. Some schools in Spartanburg County, the outbreak’s epicenter, report vaccination rates as low as 80% or below, significantly under the 95% herd immunity threshold necessary to prevent disease spread.
Claims and Counterclaims Regarding Vaccine Safety and Disease Severity
found that groups opposing vaccine mandates often claim vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they prevent. For example, Stand for Health Freedom’s website characterizes measles as a mild infection while advocating for weaker vaccine laws in South Carolina.
When asked to clarify the claim that measles is mild, Hines referenced a study published before the introduction of the MMR vaccine, which suggested the common cold had greater short-term morbidity than measles.
However, the same research paper described measles as “an important health problem” and expressed hope for its eradication through “new and potent tools.”
Dr. Shaw explained that measles causes a range of symptoms, some mild, but complications are common and unpredictable.
Manookian’s Statements on Measles and Vaccines
In interviews and public appearances, Manookian has described measles outbreaks as exaggerated.
“They’re trying to make you think that there’s this huge epidemic and it’s just not the case,” she said in a recent video discussing the coalition’s anti-mandate efforts.
Contrary to this, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 1,282 measles cases in 2026 so far, following 1,282 cases in 2025, including three deaths. The US has not seen such high numbers in 35 years.
In the same video, Manookian acknowledged lawmakers have questioned her views on the risk of polio resurgence but dismissed the threat and expressed skepticism that vaccines caused polio’s decline, despite scientific consensus attributing near eradication to vaccination.
Manookian also claimed:
“Your child is more likely to suffer injury or death from the meningitis vaccine than they are from meningitis. That’s how dangerous that injection is.”
She added that the likelihood of contracting meningitis is “extremely low.”
However, Patsy Stinchfield, former president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, stated that severe side effects from the meningococcal vaccine are rare to nonexistent and that the fatality rate for meningococcal meningitis is approximately 10%.
Manookian disputed that measles caused the deaths of two girls in Texas last year, citing Kennedy’s former anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense as a source. Public health authorities attribute those deaths to measles complications.
Pro-Vaccine Advocacy and Concerns Over Misinformation
Hafeezah Yates of South Carolina Families for Vaccines reported hearing false vaccine information during statehouse testimony from both witnesses and some lawmakers. She noted that scientific rebuttals often fail to change minds entrenched by mistrust developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yates expressed concern about the growing number of bills nationwide that, if enacted, could significantly disrupt societal functions, strain the medical system, and cause unforeseen long-term consequences.
She cited projections from the Yale School of Public Health indicating that a sustained 1% annual decline in measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates could cost the US $7.8 billion by 2030, in addition to increased hospitalizations and deaths.
“This is way bigger than one state,” Yates said. “Life will change for us in a way that we are not prepared to handle.”
