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Desantis announces end to vaccine mandates in Florida
Florida leaders, including Governor Ron Desantis and Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo have announced an end to vaccine mandates for children in the state. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert joined LiveNOW's Christina Evans to discuss what it all means.
New data is revealing which states have the highest vaccination rates amid the Trump administration’s call for more rigorous government investigations into vaccine injuries, along with Florida's decision last week to start dismantling school vaccine mandates.
In order to determine the states in the U.S. that vaccinate the most, WalletHub compared all 50 states across three key dimensions, including children and teen immunization rates, adult and elderly rates, and immunization uptake disparities and influencing factors.
Massachusetts is state that vaccinates the most, data finds
By the numbers:
The data found that Massachusetts had the highest score and high levels of vaccination for all major diseases, including seasonal coverage. It had the second-highest share of adults with flu vaccinations, at over 59%, and the highest rate for children, at over 75%.
It was also one of only 18 states that allowed minors to receive vaccinations without parental consent, allowing young people with anti-vaccine parents to choose to become protected anyway. Massachusetts requires children to be vaccinated against common diseases before attending kindergarten, too.
Nurse gives child immunization shot. (Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
To top things off, the Bay State has the fourth-highest share of residents participating in an "information immunization system," which is a confidential online database recording vaccination data about a particular geographic area. This helps inform people about how safe a certain area is from disease outbreaks.
"Seeing as being anti vaccination has become trendy in some circles and misinformation is all over the internet, it’s more crucial now than ever to spread awareness of the benefits of vaccines and make sure as many people as possible receive potentially life-saving immunizations," Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, said in a statement. "The states that vaccinate the most provide the safest environments when it comes to public health, as the likelihood that the next outbreak will begin or spread there is minimized."
States with highest vaccination rates, according to data
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Washington
- Connecticut
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Maine
- North Dakota
- Wisconsin
- Iowa
See the full report here.
RFK Jr. pulls millions in funding for vaccine development
The backstory:
Last month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal critic of vaccines, revealed in a statement that the department would halt $500 million in funding for 22 projects currently in progress that all all using mRNA technology.
RELATED: RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for vaccine development
The projects were being led by some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to prevent flu, COVID-19 and H5N1 infections. These vaccines were widely credited with helping curb the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that vaccines save approximately 4 to 5 million lives each year. They are also extremely safe; as the WHO notes, vaccine-related deaths are so rare that assessing the statistical risk is challenging.
The Source: Data used to create WalletHub’s rankings were collected as of August 12, 2025 from the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, IBTimes, Kaiser Family Foundation and ProCon.org. This story was reported from Los Angeles.