Scoop: Senate Dems target GOP over vaccine rollbacks

Axios – Monday, September 15, 2025
By Stephen Neukam

Senate Democrats on Tuesday will introduce a resolution condemning anti-vaccine policies Republicans are pursuing at the national and state level, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Democrats are putting pressure on Republican lawmakers to either support or rebuff the Florida officials’ groundbreaking move to end all vaccine mandates — as well as the anti-vaccine policies Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is implementing.

• Democrats, led by Nevada’s Jacky Rosen, will try to pass the resolution on the Senate floor Tuesday, we are told. Just one Republican could block the move — and one likely will.
• The resolution also condemns Kennedy’s policies at HHS. In June, he removed all 17 members of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panel.
• On Monday, Kennedy named five new members to his handpicked vaccine advisory panel just days ahead of a key meeting where the group will make recommendations for who should get COVID shots.

The big picture: Republican officials keep taking steps to roll back vaccine requirements, despite polling showing voters overwhelmingly support routine childhood shots.

• Florida officials earlier this month announced they would phase out all childhood vaccine mandates in the state.
• “Unfortunately, lies and conspiracies pushed by Secretary Kennedy and the Trump Administration are fueling reckless actions like Florida’s extreme move to overturn commonsense vaccination guidelines — putting kids at risk of polio, smallpox, rubella, and other deadly diseases we’ve eradicated,” Rosen told Axios in a statement.

Between the lines: Democrats are pressing on fault lines within the GOP over the efficacy of vaccines. Even President Trump publicly split with Kennedy on the matter earlier this month.

• “Pure and simple — they work,” Trump said of vaccines this month. “They’re not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used.”
• Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are co-sponsoring the resolution.

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