“Protecting the Public” or Failing the Child? Why the AAP’s Push to Eliminate All Vaccine Exemptions Should Alarm Everyone

By Informed Policy Advocates (IPA)

Where IPA Stands

At Informed Policy Advocates, we fight to restore:

Informed Consent – the right to choose or decline any medical product without coercion or penalty.
Medical Consumer Protections – especially when products carry risk and are exempt from liability.
Civil Rights – ensuring that health decisions do not block access to education, employment, or public life.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued on July 28th,2025 a new policy statement calling for the elimination of all nonmedical immunization exemptions for child care and school attendance in all states. The only exemptions that would remain? Medical exemptions, granted under increasingly narrow and tightly regulated conditions.

The AAP’s statement shows a dangerous shift away from child-centered care toward state-controlled conformity. The AAP’s 2025 policy statement may not carry the weight of law but in California, we’ve seen what happens when their recommendations become legislative mandates.

Source: AAP Policy Statement, 2025

Why This Policy Matters in California

Let’s be clear:
The AAP doesn’t make laws, but their policy positions often become law. The AAP is not just a professional medical group,  it is a highly influential lobbying organization with deep ties to public health agencies and lawmakers across the country.

In California, their influence is already written into law.
SB 276 (2019) the bill that restricted medical vaccine exemptions and stripped doctors of discretion, explicitly relies on AAP, CDC, and ACIP guidelines to define what qualifies as a valid exemption.

Since SB 276:

• Since its implementation in 2019, California schools have seen a more than 90% reduction in medical exemptions. As of 2025, only 0.1% of current medical exemptions remain.

• Pediatricians have been investigated, disciplined, or pushed out of practice for honoring their patients’ individual needs.

• Families have been forced to homeschool, relocate, or comply against their will, regardless of previous adverse reactions or health concerns.

Now, the AAP wants this model nationalized, coercing all states to eliminate non-medical exemptions entirely.

A One-Size-Fits-All Policy That Ignores Real-World Risk

The AAP’s recent statement focuses on one goal: maximizing population-level vaccine uptake. But at what cost to the individual child?

Their policy fails to recognize that children are medical consumers receiving pharmaceutical products from manufacturers that are shielded from liability under federal law.

Due to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, families cannot sue vaccine manufacturers directly for injuries caused by vaccines recommended for routine use in children, even if the vaccine is administered to an adult. Instead, those injured must go through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a federal claims court that offers limited remedies, requires significant proof, and has paid out billions, quietly.

In other words:

The burden of risk falls entirely on the patient and family, not the manufacturer.
And yet, the AAP doesn’t mention that.

Even more concerning, the AAP appears to prioritize “protecting the public” over protecting the health of the individual child. There is no meaningful discussion of individualized risk, adverse reactions, or ethical concerns around mandated liability-free products.

For an organization charged with pediatric advocacy, that omission is not just troubling, it's unacceptable.

How is this “informed consent” if the student has no real choice and school is compulsory?
That’s not consent. That’s coercion.

California’s Reality Check

California eliminated personal belief exemptions in 2015 (SB 277), then virtually eliminated medical exemptions with SB 276 (2019). Since then:

• Thousands of children have been removed from public schools.

• Vaccine uptake barely changed, but trust in health institutions collapsed.

• Parents from medically fragile or minority backgrounds were disproportionately impacted.

• Doctors were silenced, and punished for writing exemptions. 

The AAP’s policy statement is not about health,  it’s about control.

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