Kansas City to keep child vaccine mandates despite Trump order; religious exemptions remain an option

Kansas City won’t be changing its vaccination requirements for school children despite President Donald Trump’s executive order this week reducing the recommended vaccines from 17 to 11.

The Kansas City Health Department (KCHD) made the announcement at a press conference Friday morning, with speakers disagreeing with the order, which not only cut the list of recommended vaccines for children, but also separates vaccines typically given in one doctor’s visit such as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Since Missouri’s guidelines have not changed, neither will Kansas City’s, officials said.

Trump’s new vaccination guidelines adopt recommendations given by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after it conducted a scientific assessment of childhood vaccinations. Some of the recommendations were adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this year.

However, doctors at the press conference argued in support of the current schedule.

“Separating MMR has no medical benefit,” said University Health infectious disease specialist Dr. Susanne Luedtke. “Giving recommended vaccines at the same visit is safe and effective. Combination vaccines reduce the number of injections that children need.”

KCHD Director Dr. Marvia Jones claimed the order – which enforces parental control over child vaccines – is unfair to parents because it presents information that is contradictory to previous vaccine practices and schedules, which could be overwhelming.

“We also say, let’s stick to what has been working, and that there’s been no evidence to the contrary,” Jones said, referencing the vaccination schedule she says Kansas City has had in place for 55 years.

KCPS Director of Nursing Lauren Grimes said the current list of vaccines, which includes the meningococcal ACWY and hepatitis B vaccines no longer recommended by HHS, will still be required for students attending Kansas City Public Schools.

The speakers encouraged parents to read from credible sources when making medical decisions for their children. When they were asked about the sources in Trump’s study, Jones said the study can’t actually be found anywhere. The study appears to be available online.

“We don’t know what he is citing,” she continued. “We could not find validity in the things that he was citing. The literature by far talks about how this is safe.”

Some worry new recommendations could continue or accelerate the decline in the vaccinated population in the state. Data from the Missouri Department of Health shows childhood vaccination rates have fallen below 90%, reportedly the level of “herd immunity,” or the percentage of people who need to be vaccinated to stop the spread of the disease.

However, the HHS study argues peer nations with fewer vaccines have substantially higher vaccine rates.

Even though the vaccines continue to be mandated for area students, Missouri parents can still file religious exemptions if they believe the shots violate their personal religious beliefs.

When asked about exemptions, Jones said she’s noticed an increase in religious exemption rights being exercised in both Kansas City and the nation as a whole. However, she also said she believes there are very few people who actually feel convicted about the vaccines, and most parents file for religious exemptions because getting them is inconvenient.