Schools already dealing with declining childhood vaccination rates are watching with alarm Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent moves on public health.

Leaders are putting plans in place to handle outbreaks in classrooms after the U.S. this year saw its largest measles outbreak in decades and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for those under 18. Kennedy, meanwhile, has fired all 17 sitting members of CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and also moved to oust the CDC head and other top HHS experts.

The states of Oregon, Washington and California announced on Wednesday that they are creating a public health partnership in an effort to spread the word about the safety and importance of vaccines.

“The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk,” the states' governors said in a joint statement.

But some states are taking the opposite approach.

Florida announced Wednesday it is looking to end all vaccine mandates in the state.

“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” said Joseph Ladapo, Florida's surgeon general.

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