As RFK Jr allies hailed Mississippi’s rollback of strict school vaccine rules, whooping cough surged and a baby died

The campaign to change the rules was years in the making, orchestrated in part by two men with close ties to US health secretary RFK Jr When a federal judge in Mississippi ordered a sweeping rollback of the state’s strict school vaccine rules in 2023, the ruling hit some doctors like “a gut punch”. Mississippi had for years achieved some of the highest vaccination rates in the US for children – a point of pride in a place that consistently ranks at the bottom of other health measures. Continue reading...

Michelle R Smith in Hattiesburg, Mississippi · Thu, Apr 9, 2026, 4:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

The campaign to change the rules was years in the making, orchestrated in part by two men with close ties to US health secretary RFK Jr

When a federal judge in Mississippi ordered a sweeping rollback of the state’s strict school vaccine rules in 2023, the ruling hit some doctors like “a gut punch”.

Mississippi had for years achieved some of the highest vaccination rates in the US for children – a point of pride in a place that consistently ranks at the bottom of other health measures.

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