States Determine School Immunization Requirements, Not CDC

Vaccines are added to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization schedule after consultation with an outside advisory group and when the benefits outweigh the risks. Contrary to claims from Tucker Carlson and others, the COVID-19 vaccines will not become mandatory in schools just by being added to the CDC schedule. States and local districts make those determinations.

School-entry vaccination requirements are set by state or local officials, not the CDC or the federal government.

Numerous social media posts, however, claimed otherwise in advance of a two-day CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting starting on Oct. 19.

“The CDC is about to add the Covid vaccine to the childhood immunization schedule, which would make the vax mandatory for kids to attend school,” tweeted Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Oct. 18, sharing a clip of his show from that evening, which had also discussed the topic.