Vaccines are back in the news in the wake of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy expressing doubt over their effectiveness at recent hearings.
The comments come as Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo asked his state to roll back vaccine mandates in schools and Virginia reported its fourth case of measles this year.
Ladapo announced his hopes for a vaccine-optional program for schools across the Sunshine State last week. But when asked about the idea over the weekend, President Donald Trump sided with vaccines.
“Vaccines should be used otherwise some people are going to catch it and they endanger other people,” the president told reporters.
Trump didn’t speak to the specifics of rolling back mandates, but Ladapo said it was about giving parents “ultimate authority.”
That sentiment is shared by Virginia Republican state senator Glen Sturtevant.
“We need to make sure parents have ultimate authority over what goes into their children and that includes vaccines,” Sturtevant said Monday morning.
An attorney who practices vaccine injury law, Sturtevant said the cases he’s involved in haven’t made him anti-vax.
He said cases of vaccine-induced injury are exceedingly rare. And while he's not thrilled about the immunity vaccine manufactures get from the federal government, he said those injured can be compensated if they fall into strictly defined terms.
"Some people can have bad reactions," Sturtevant said of his work in the relatively obscure administrative court. "We're all individuals and some have a bad injury outcome, and we help people get some compensation."
The Midlothian-area senator said he wouldn’t support a vaccine mandate roll back similar to Florida’s. Virginia law allows for religious and medical exceptions from school vaccine requirements. If a bill to roll back the mandate were to come up in the next legislative session, it would require the approval of the governor.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger said she too would not support a roll back of school vaccine mandates.
“I will do everything I can to keep all our kids safe and healthy and that includes supporting the guidance provided by VDH as it relates to vaccine recommendations for students,” she said in an audio statement sent to Radio IQ.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the issue.
Last week an elementary school in Virginia Beach reported one of Virginia’s four measles cases this year. The school system asked unvaccinated students to stay home until the incubation period has passed.
The Virginia Department of Health said last week that delays in guidance from federal regulators means people currently need to have the updated COVID-9 vaccine administered by their doctor or have a prescription to get it from a pharmacy.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
