Kansas Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Derek Schmidt has promised to stand against a coronavirus vaccine mandate for children to attend school if he is elected governor, KZRG reported.

“The choice to give a child the COVID vaccine should be made by that child’s parents and the parents alone,” Schmidt said. “No Kansas student will ever be forced to receive a COVID vaccine in order to attend school – not on my watch.”

Schmidt’s statement came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimously voted in favor of including the coronavirus vaccine on a child’s routine immunization schedule, stoking concerns among critics who fear states and localities will enforce the recommendation.

While the vaccine recommendations do not have any actual staying power, many states and local jurisdictions have, in the past, enforced the CDC’s recommendations, as seen with universal masking throughout the pandemic.

According to the report, Schmidt joined several other state attorneys general in objecting to the CDC’s recommendations and reiterated his support for legislation that “would have prohibited the KDHE Secretary from adding any requirement to the state schedule for enrollment in daycare or schools for a vaccine that does not have full FDA approval.” Democrat Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the legislation.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt discusses a proposal that he’s pushing with other Republicans to amend the state constitution to give the Legislature the power to overturn state agencies’ administrative regulations, at a news conference, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka, KS. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

“Because of Kelly’s veto, there is no measure in Kansas law that prevents her KDHE Secretary from following the Biden administration’s orders and adding a COVID vaccine requirement for enrollment in Kansas schools,” the report states.

“The Legislature did prohibit any state agency from using funds to require proof of COVID vaccination through a budget proviso for FY2022, but that prohibition expired on July 1 of this year and was not included in the FY2023 budget,” the report concluded, adding that Schmidt would add back the provision to his budget proposal.