Growing Number of Governors Reject COVID Vaccines for School Entry After CDC Vote

First grade student, seven-year-old Rihanna Chihuaque, receives a covid-19 vaccine at Arturo Velasquez Institute on November 12, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images

The GOP governors of several states indicated they will not implement mandates for children to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to enter school after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel voted last week to recommend adding the vaccine to the childhood immunization schedule.

Governors in Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Montana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Missouri, South Dakota, and Arkansas have already said that their states would not put in place requirements for children to receive a COVID-19 vaccine for school entry.