As South Carolina confronts a measles outbreak that has infected nearly 1,000 people, groups aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Are actively working to dismantle immunization requirements for children, according to a report by The Guardian. These efforts coincide with a nationwide surge in measles cases, representing the worst spread of the illness since the early 1990s.
Activists are targeting vaccine mandates in over 20 states, including at least six currently experiencing outbreaks, seeking to weaken or eliminate laws requiring vaccinations for school attendance. The campaign is spearheaded by organizations with direct ties to Kennedy, including the anti-vaccine group he previously led, Children’s Health Defense, and groups run by his longtime publisher and a prominent Idaho-based activist.
Leslie Manookian, an Idaho filmmaker, homeopath, and activist whom Kennedy has publicly praised, is a central figure in the movement. She leads the Health Freedom Defense Fund and co-leads the newly formed Medical Freedom Act Coalition, which aims to introduce legislation modeled after a 2025 Idaho law prohibiting many medical mandates. “This is the most basic human right, the right to decide what we put into and on our bodies,” Manookian stated, according to The Guardian.
The coalition, which includes 15 organizations, is advocating for bills in states including Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, New York, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Vermont. Although some bills have stalled, advocates have shifted tactics, backing alternative legislation in Iowa to end school vaccine mandates. Action alerts have also been issued to supporters in 19 states, including those with active outbreaks, urging them to contact lawmakers and governors.
Medical professionals warn that weakening vaccine mandates will inevitably lead to lower vaccination rates and increased illness. Dr. Jana Shaw, an infectious disease specialist, warned of increased cases, school absences, parental work disruptions, and rising healthcare costs. “We will see more outbreaks,” Shaw said. “We will see children missing school, parents missing work…Some of them will die.”
The groups opposing mandates often disseminate false or misleading information about vaccine risks and downplay the dangers of preventable diseases. One communication published by Stand for Health Freedom, a coalition member, characterized measles as a mild infection, a claim disputed by medical experts. Manookian herself has described measles outbreaks as being “hyped.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported more than 1,100 measles cases in 2026, following over 2,200 cases in 2025, resulting in three deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations – the highest numbers in 35 years.
In South Carolina, advocates are actively opposing a bill that would tighten vaccination requirements for school enrollment. Jill Hines, director of advocacy for Stand for Health Freedom, asserted that removing mandates does not necessarily lead to increased illness, stating, “If anybody is concerned about it, they can still go get a vaccine.”
Despite concerns from health officials, Manookian questioned the role of vaccines in the decline of polio rates and disputed the link between measles and the deaths of two girls in Texas last year, citing information from Kennedy’s Children’s Health Defense. Local medical officials and the CDC, however, attribute those deaths to measles.
Hafeezah Yates, of the pro-vaccine advocacy group South Carolina Families for Vaccines, noted that misinformation about vaccines is prevalent in statehouse testimony and that science-based information often fails to sway those already distrustful, a sentiment rooted in concerns that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yale School of Public Health modeling predicts that a sustained 1% annual decline in measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates could cost the U.S. $7.8 billion by 2030, in addition to increased hospitalizations and deaths.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) affirmed that vaccination “remains the most effective way to prevent measles,” but did not comment on whether Kennedy supports the coalition’s efforts to end school vaccine mandates.
