President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday that puts schools, colleges, and states with COVID-19 vaccine mandates at risk of losing federal funding. While this may not have a significant national impact as most mandates have been dropped, the order directs the Education Department and Health and Human Services to create a plan to end COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Trump’s campaign promise to withhold federal funds from schools with vaccine mandates is at play here.

The order specifically targets COVID-19 vaccines, as all states already require vaccines for diseases like measles and polio for school attendance. While exemptions are allowed for medical or religious reasons, some colleges, like Swarthmore and Oberlin, still mandate COVID-19 vaccines for on-campus students. Statewide student vaccine mandates have been rare, with California and Illinois having considered but ultimately dropped such requirements.

Overall, the impact of this order may be limited given the existing landscape of vaccine mandates across schools and colleges in the United States. The specifics of how federal funding would be leveraged to enforce the plan to end COVID-19 vaccine mandates remain unclear, especially considering most federal education funds are allocated by Congress.