I predict that Idaho will be a trendsetter! Yes, you read that right. Idaho, not New York, not California—Idaho. Unfortunately, this trend could put some of your patients at risk.
Beginning in July, the state will enforce its newly enacted “Medical Freedom Act,” which prevents business, government agencies, schools and day care centers from requiring “a procedure, treatment, device, drug injection, medication or action taken to diagnose, prevent or cure a disease or alter the health or biological function of a person.”
In other words, with few exceptions schools and day care centers might not be able to mandate activities such as mask wearing or vaccination to protect children from infectious diseases. They will be able to send them home if they are sick, however, thanks to Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who vetoed the original bill because of that concern.
The revised bill passed in the house with a 44-23 vote and the senate with a 27-6 vote, and Mr. Little signed it into law shortly afterward.
Concerns about not being able to send sick kids home was the reason Mr. Little gave for vetoing the original bill, but none of the politicians seem to be concerned about preventing kids from getting sick in the first place.
Public health laws that require vaccination before school entry are being eroded throughout the country, despite the number of illnesses and deaths they have prevented, according to public health experts and pediatricians.
As we wrote in another story, all 50 states had vaccine mandates for school entry with few exceptions in 1981. Today, many allow medical, religious and/or philosophical exemptions; and some do not require vaccination for homeschooled children, according to a report by the CDC’s Public Health Law Program (bit.ly/4amqKmk-IDSE). And others, like Idaho might eleiminate all vaccine-entry requirements. These exemptions mean more parents can send their unvaccinated children to day care or school, endangering the more fragile, immunocompromised child.
During the 2023-2024 school year, vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners decreased from the year before, ranging from 92.3% for the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.7% for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), according to the CDC (bit.ly/43OtAQB-IDSE).
We all know what laws like the one just passed in Idaho mean—and it is already being played out in almost half the country with measles. As of April 3, 2025, 607 cases of measles and three deaths were reported, according to the CDC.
Although these are the illnesses getting the headlines, there is also an increase in mumps (67 cases as of March 2025) and pertussis (an estimated 6,600 cases), and we can expect a rise in hepatitis, congenital rubella and even polio if enough children aren’t vaccinated to provide herd immunity.
Personally, I don’t think this is a trend to brag about.
P.S. There is a new report about vaccination you might want to check out: vaccinateyourfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/VYF_2025_SOTI_Report.pdf
The views expressed here belong to the editor and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.
This article is from the April 2025 print issue.