710,000 fewer babies were born last year in U.S. compared with two decades ago

As RFK Jr allies hailed Mississippi’s rollback of strict school vaccine rules, whooping cough surged and a baby died

<p>The campaign to change the rules was years in the making, orchestrated in part by two men with close ties to US health secretary RFK Jr</p><p>When a federal judge in Mississippi ordered a sweeping rollback of the state’s strict school vaccine rules in 2023, the ruling hit some doctors like “a gut punch”.</p><p>Mississippi had for years achieved some of the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7202a2.htm?s_cid=mm7202a2_w#:~:text=Nationally%2C%202%2Ddose,to%208.5%25%20%5BWisconsin%5D).">highest vaccination rates</a> in the US for <a href="https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2015/02/05/rdsilvermanmsvax/">children</a> – a point of pride in a place that consistently ranks at the <a href="https://jmsma.scholasticahq.com/article/140455-mississippi-s-long-running-poor-health-care-performance-malignant-neglect-or-complacency">bottom of other health measures</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/09/rfk-jr-mississippi-rollback-school-vacci...