Kennedy’s Vaccine Policy Endangers Our Classrooms
As a former teacher, I know how quickly illness spreads in schools. One child shows up sick on Monday, and by Friday half the class is coughing. That is why vaccines are essential: they keep preventable diseases from sweeping through classrooms and disrupting learning.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policies threaten to undo that progress. By undermining vaccination requirements, he would leave schools vulnerable to outbreaks of diseases like measles and whooping cough, illnesses we worked for decades to push out of American classrooms.
This is not just a matter of personal choice. In every school there are children, teachers and staff who cannot be vaccinated because of medical conditions. Their safety depends on the rest of us doing our part. Weakening vaccine policy abandons those with weakened immune systems, turning schools from safe havens into places of real danger.
The impact would go far beyond health. When preventable diseases spread, education suffers. Children miss class, parents miss work, and teachers are forced to reteach material. Absenteeism is already a chronic condition in our schools. Entire school calendars can be thrown into chaos. After the massive disruptions of the pandemic, our students cannot afford another setback.
Kennedy frames his stance as a matter of “freedom.” However, in schools, true freedom means the ability to learn without fear of preventable illness. It means every child, regardless of health status, has an equal chance to thrive. Reckless policies that put ideology above children’s safety don’t expand freedom; they endanger it.
We must speak up and speak out strongly. Parents, teachers, and community leaders need to demand that policymakers uphold strong, science-based vaccination standards. There is no room for capitulation on this issue. Silence is complicity.
Here in Orange County, both Chapel Hill–Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools have a duty to protect students, teachers and staff from preventable diseases. Parents, educators, and local officials must make it clear: our classrooms should remain places of discovery, not danger. Kennedy’s vaccine policies put our children, our schools, and our future at risk. It’s time to stand up and oppose them — together, and with urgency.
Lynn McGee is the Chair of the Orange County Democrat Party.
