Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to fire the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) entire vaccine board even as childhood vaccination rates drop is setting off alarm bells for next school year.

Health officials worry about the ramifications of Kennedy's recent decisions and philosophy towards vaccines more generally as schools prepare for their first year with him at the helm of nation’s health.

Diseases that had been eradicated from the U.S. are returning, and experts warn of the need for schools to be vigilant and prepare for outbreaks among their student body.

So far this year, there have been nearly 1,200 cases of measles reported in 34 states, quadruple the total from all of last year. And the CDC says vaccine coverage among kindergarteners for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) is below the target 95 percent threshold.

“I think schools are going to have to rely on state level and national experts to help guide their policies. This means that the current CDC recommendations for school-based vaccinations are still the most reliable and evidence based,” said Lawrence Gostin, distinguished........

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