Former President Donald Trump has signed an executive order preventing schools that maintain COVID-19 vaccine mandates from receiving federal funding. The order, confirmed by the White House, specifically targets educational institutions at all levels, from elementary schools to universities, that require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for in-person attendance.

The directive instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Secretary of Education to develop compliance guidelines and a plan to eliminate coercive COVID-19 vaccine mandates. This includes creating a system to withhold federal funds from educational entities enforcing such mandates.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump declared, "That solves that problem." In addition to the vaccine mandate order, he also signed an executive order establishing an "energy council" headed by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The impact of the vaccine mandate order remains uncertain. Data from Immunize.org indicates that as of May 2024, no states mandated COVID-19 vaccination for K-12 students. Furthermore, No College Mandates, an advocacy group, reported that only a small fraction of the higher education institutions they tracked had any form of COVID-19 vaccine requirement as of December 2024.

This latest executive order follows Trump's previous actions related to vaccine mandates. In January, he signed an order aimed at reinstating military service members discharged solely for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. This order addressed the Department of Defense's 2021 mandate, which was later rescinded in 2023.

Trump also signed an executive order in January targeting the use of federal funds in K-12 schools that teach critical race theory.