Quick Hit: Trump EO ends COVID vaccine mandates in schools
No schools in NC currently require a COVID shot in order to attend
On Feb. 15, President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting schools and universities from requiring COVID-19 vaccines as a condition for in-person education.
Here’s what the order does.
Stops the use of federal funds to support educational institutions that maintain such vaccine requirements and bars discretionary federal funds from supporting educational institutions still requiring a COVID-19 vaccination for in-person attendance.
The order applies to all levels of education from elementary schools through universities and colleges.
The Secretary of Education is directed to issue guidelines about parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under law as it pertains to the order.
Additionally, a 90-Day Plan has to be put in place by the Secretary of Education, working with Health and Human Services. The plan has to include identifying non-compliant institutions receiving federal grants, developing processes to prevent and rescind federal funding from non-compliant institutions. and proposing any necessary legislation.
Read the order here.
Per the website No College Mandates, as of March 2024 there were 48 universities still requiring the shot. An updated list on the “mandate” tab shows 15 colleges with a mandate still on the books.
The No College Mandates website’s tracking list was updated on Feb. 15, 2025 and shows no North Carolina higher education institutions currently requiring the vaccination, however; several did and the list shows most ended that requirement by 2023.
During 2021 the North Carolina Commission for Public Health (NCCPH) considered adopting the COVID-19 vaccine as a required immunization for 17-year-olds headed to college and for K-12 public school students but ended up tabling the idea in 2022 following backlash from the public and lawmakers.
The push came after emergency approvals for the vaccine for children under the age of 18 as well as a petition to the NCCPH from a handful of employees from Appalachian State University.
In 2023, the CDC added the COVID-19 shot to the childhood vaccinations list. The Trump administration has yet to address that addition.
Check out my past reporting on the NCCPH at North State Journal: