In the five years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans and Christians have seen a complete shift in their perspective on vaccines that is changing federal policy and affecting global charity efforts — potentially sparking a measles epidemic in the process.
The Trump administration’s newest line of attack is a complete restructuring of federal health agencies. On March 27, the administration announced 20,000 HHS jobs will be cut as part of its push for government efficiency, under the direction of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The New York Times reported a day earlier the White House plans to cut foreign aid for infectious disease prevention and vaccinations. Iowa Republican lawmakers also attempted to push a bill that would charge doctors with a misdemeanor for administering mRNA vaccines. States like Florida, Louisiana and Texas are also pushing back against COVID vaccinations.
HHS also announced on Wednesday that $11.4 billion in COVID-era funding for state and local health departments would be cut, prioritizing the money for chronic disease prevention as part of its mission to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Texas pastor celebrates vaccine hesitancy
Pastor Landon Schott of Mercy Culture
Early March also saw the resurgence of hostility toward vaccines with a viral story out of Fort Worth, Texas. Pastor Landon Schott of Mercy Culture megachurch released an Instagram post March 5 bragging about his preparatory school being one of the least vaccinated in the state. The Texas Department of State Health Services reports MC Prep has a 14.3% vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella, known as MMR.
“I just found out we are the No. 1 school in Texas for least vaccinations, and I guess the news got ahold of it and they were trying to spin it like it was some kind of awful thing. But I just want to congratulate all the family members of MC Prep that embrace freedom of health and they’re not allowing government or science projects to affect how you live and lead your life!”
MC Prep is one of six schools in North Texas with a vaccination rate below 50%, all six of them being private or charter schools.
“They’re not allowing government or science projects to affect how you live and lead your life!”
Schott followed up his comments with an X post declaring, “Don’t let spiritually unhealthy people tell you how to be healthy!”
Texas State Rep. Nate Schatzline celebrated his district’s low vaccination rates in a March 6 X post, saying, “I’ve gotten word that my children’s school has been ranked the #1 most unvaccinated school in Texas & I’m upset … that we haven’t celebrated sooner! Way to go MC Prep! You’ve earned a medical freedom award from my office!”
San Antonio Catholic Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller conversely condemned low vaccination rates within private Catholic schools and put out a statement affirming that his schools will not accept vaccine waivers, only permitting medical exemptions.
“Catholic schools do not accept students who have received a parental choice or religious exemption from the immunizations required by Texas state law,” he said. “Conscientious objections or waivers, which may be permissible for attendance in public schools, do not qualify as an exemption in Catholic schools in Texas.”
Graphic from KNRV-TV Reno, Nevada
The Texas measles outbreak
This controversy comes with bad timing for the state of Texas, as it is one of several states currently battling severe outbreaks of measles.
Texas, Kansas, New Mexico and Ohio are currently enduring sizable outbreaks. Texas reports 327 cases, 40 hospitalizations and one fatality since late January. Kansas is currently reporting 23 cases. Ohio is reporting 10. New Mexico is currently reporting 43 cases. The caseloads follow a similar spike of 60 cases in Chicago in 2024, with individual cases reported in 17 states.
The outbreak’s epicenter has been pinpointed as a rural Mennonite community in Gaines County, Texas, described as “close-knit, undervaccinated,” and generally reliant on private schools and homeschooling.
Forty-eight cases were reported in the community within the first month of the outbreak. Department of State Health Services spokesperson Lara Anton argued the vaccination hesitancy wasn’t church sponsored and came down to the “personal choice” of the families. “It’s just that the community doesn’t go and get regular health care.”
Texas state law generally requires measles vaccinations for students but allows exemptions for religious beliefs or “reasons of conscience.”
Who hates vaccines?
Despite Trump’s key role in fast-tracking the COVID vaccine through Operation Warp Speed, many of his supporters have not appreciated his positive candor toward COVID vaccines. He’s been repeatedly booed at his own rallies by his supporters for bragging about his role in pushing vaccines on the public, effectively being forced to back away from one of his administration’s largest scientific accomplishments.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, bipartisan opinions on vaccines were relatively identical.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, bipartisan opinions on vaccines were relatively identical. There was an online conspiratorial movement that argued vaccines are the cause of autism, preferring alternative medicine and homeopathic solutions, but it wasn’t partisan.
With the pandemic, however, more of the public chose to believe vaccines aren’t necessarily safe. Correlating with a brief pause on Johnson and Johnson distribution following fears of its vaccine causing increased risk for blood clots, vaccine hesitancy spiked, particularly among conservatives.
By the end of 2021, a 26% gap on the safety of childhood vaccines emerged between Republicans and Democrats.
As of January 2025, Republican trust in federal institutions has dropped to an all-time low, particularly with the CDC (39%), HHS (42%) and FDA (39%). Comparatively, 84% trust Trump and 81% trust Kennedy, while 84% respect the opinions of their personal doctors. Gallup reports only 26% of Republicans find it “extremely important” to vaccinate kids, while 26% say its “slightly important,” and 19% say it isn’t important — compared to only 2% of Democrats.
Evangelical Christians don’t trust the government
The COVID pandemic certainly strained public trust in institutions and fostered active resentment among Republicans toward local, state and federal leaders that pushed COVID guidelines and restrictions. Such opinions reflect a complete breakdown in Republicans’ trust for federal authority, showing they prefer personal relationships or individual leaders over the opinions of broad scientific institutions.
Among religious groups, American evangelicals have a uniquely heightened distrust of the federal government. This distrust is reflected in many areas of evangelical life. As social scientist Ryan Burge argues, institutional distrust has fueled the exodus of evangelicals from Mainline Protestantism.
“Nondenominationalism is predicated on the collapse of institutional trust,” he said. “Americans, for myriad reasons, do not trust major institutions. Banks, unions, big business, media and government are all viewed with deep skepticism. Nameless and faceless CEOs and bureaucrats are wasting your money and taking your freedom. In religion, there’s a simple solution to this: Kill the denominations. Voila! No more unaccountable head office that wastes your money on projects to spruce up the national headquarters. In a nondenominational church, all the people who decide where the money goes are sitting right next to you in the pew. That’s a whole lot more accountability.”
This distrust has grown tremendously in the past half decade.
One 2019 study — from before the pandemic — found homeschooling parents held a “diverse range of vaccination practices” and encouraged health providers not to make blanket assumptions.
Another 2022 study found Christianity is the only religion whose members showed an abnormally high rate of vaccine hesitancy.
“The Christian homeschooling parents expressed two especially prominent perceptions: a belief that they had a very low risk of contracting infectious diseases because God has provided them with the natural tools necessary for health and a stronger-than-typical sense of empowerment related to parental decision-making and autonomy,” the study found.
In recent years, Christianity has become enough of a social marker as to create sizable demographic changes. Another 2022 study found Christianity is the only religion whose members showed an abnormally high rate of vaccine hesitancy.
“Religiosity at the level of cross-country comparison analyses is not associated with the COVID-19 vaccination rates, except for Christianity,” the report says. “Our results indicate that the proportion of Christians in a given country was negatively related to the vaccination rates after accounting for socio-economics and cultural factors.”
Freedom of health
The conservative rallying cries of “freedom of health” or “Make America Healthy Again” are both highly loaded statements. Given that the majority of students catching measles are private school or homeschooled students, it does raise questions about the instincts driving the anti-vax ideology.
Illinois is currently caught in tension over its perceived plans to crack down on homeschooling. On March 19, thousands of Illinois parents rallied at the state Capitol in Springfield against a recently introduced bill that would place greater restrictions on homeschooling. Introduced on Feb. 6, House Bill 2827 or the “Homeschooling Act” would require homeschooling parents to register with state authorities and track their student’s curriculum and attendance. Homeschooling parents and conservative activists across the state have been up in arms against what they perceive as state overreach, despite lawmakers asserting that the law has more to do with children’s safety than regulation.
Regardless, this growing distrust in federal and state regulators, and the growth of homeschooling and anti-vax movements, reflects a perception that authority is hostile and untrustworthy.
It is also reflected in the bizarre growth of homeopathic and holistic lifestyles among conservatives and Christians, often described online as the “Crunchy Mom” movement. Pharmaceutical distrust, alternative medicine, health-consciousness, flouride skepticism, and avoiding processed foods have become popular among conservative moms, many of whom praise HHS Secretary Kennedy as a thought leader.
(New York Times)
The growing cost of hesitancy
While Christians, Republicans, or homeschooling parents as a whole cannot be blamed for the rise in vaccine hesitancy, those trends are still on the rise and having consequences. Even so, there is still nuance in the data.
Vaccination rates are dropping and that is having clear consequences.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services released a report in August 2023 saying 10% of students were not meeting requirements for immunization, with numbers spiking after the pandemic. Only 4.6% of students in 2023 filed personal conviction waivers. The majority of nonimmunized students came from economically disadvantaged homes, while rural areas saw higher rates of waiver requests. Some of the low vaccination rates may be driven by factors other than vaccine hesitancy, such as poverty or lack of access to health care or education.
Regardless, vaccination rates are dropping and that is having clear consequences.
As the CDC reports, MMR vaccination rates have fallen below the 95% target, meaning a disease that was effectively wiped out in the U.S. by 2000 is in imminent danger of spreading.
Additionally, the federal government’s efficiency efforts under Elon Musk will have long-term effects on the abilities of the federal government and local governments to effectively treat diseases.
Lubbock Public Health Director Katherine Wells, who oversees Gaines County hospitals that have treated 300 measles patients, spoke out publicly against HHS’s severe cuts to local health programs, saying that the lost grants will have a severe effect on her ability to treat the measles outbreak. “It’s kind of crazy to have this funding cut. I don’t have a savings account in public health.”
Sierra Leone health minister Austin Demby similarly condemned cuts to international vaccine programs, saying it would put “children’s lives at stake.
In the meantime, medical experts are strongly encouraging parents to consider having their children immunized against measles, arguing the vaccine is highly effect and safe against one of the most contagious diseases in the world.
University of Colorado Denver sociologist Jennifer Reich told USA Today: “We don’t necessarily just do (vaccines) for ourselves. We do them for the people around us. We do them for our grandparents; we do them for pregnant women at the grocery store for whom rubella can be devastating. It’s not necessarily my personal benefit from the vaccine, but the way that I’m part of a community.”