An effort to amend the Arizona Constitution (HCR 2056) with the “right to refuse medical mandates,” was introduced this legislative session but has since stalled. However, a related bill, HB 2248, is still moving quickly through the Legislature. 

Under HCR 2056, vaccines would no longer be mandated for enrollment in public schools or for school employees. Similarly, HB 2248 seeks to enact policies that broadly prohibit “discrimination” based on an individual’s acceptance or refusal of “medical interventions,” including vaccines.  

The ultimate result of these two pieces of legislation will be a drop in the already falling immunization rates. Both undermine public health and actively risk our functioning communities — particularly the elderly, children and those with a weakened immune system.

However, unlike HCR 2056, which would amend the state constitution and require voter approval, HB 2248 operates through statute and could take effect more immediately if enacted. HB 2248 also defines ‘medical interventions’ broadly, extending far beyond vaccines to include a wide range of treatments, further limiting the ability of institutions to respond to public health risks. Both efforts have been cleverly dressed up in the cloaks of personal autonomy and medical freedom, but in fact only undermine these concepts for most of us. 

Personal autonomy includes not only an individuals’ right to refuse, but also an individuals’ right to benefit from public health interventions like vaccines. By codifying a right to refuse medical interventions, Arizona lawmakers are de-prioritizing benefits like herd immunity from vaccine-preventable diseases. As immunization rates drop, fewer people will benefit from community protection from diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough, meningitis, and other preventable illnesses that we have had the privilege to forget since large-scale vaccination programs prevented them from occurring. 

When we see declining rates of immunizations, such as the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine, we see more cases of vaccine-preventable diseases. For example, we have already seen a reemergence of measles, a disease previously declared eliminated in the US in 2000. And as anti-vaccine sentiment rises and families forgo immunizing their children, we have also seen growing rates of measles cases, with a total of 2,283 cases confirmed in 2025, the highest rate since 1991. As of March 5, 2026, the CDC reported 1,281 new measles cases, 97% of which occurred among unvaccinated individuals.

Aside from disease prevention, societies rely on vaccination to keep the populace healthy and functioning. HCR 2056 and HB 2248 could further compromise the health and daily routine of children, adults and communities. For example, with increased vaccine-preventable outbreaks that will result from HCR 2056, schools will close more frequently, teachers may not agree to come to work (or get sick themselves), and parents will be left to find care for their children (since schools are closed) so they can go to work.

Both bills come at a time of tumultuous vaccine policy. In June 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services removed 17 medical experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the country’s leading organization for vaccine policy, and replaced them with alternative members with a more skeptical view towards traditional vaccine decision-making. Despite pushback from more than 200 health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, on the new CDC guidelines issued by this reconstituted panel, momentum for loosening vaccine mandates continued. A few months later, in September 2025, the Florida governor and surgeon general called for an end to all vaccine mandates. Public health professionals have feared a domino effect in other states’ vaccine policies. HCR 2056 appears to be just that: A state constitutional amendment that undermines science and public health.

Although currently stalled, if passed by the Arizona Legislature, HCR 2056 would bypass the standard legislative process by not requiring the governor’s signature and will go straight to the November 2026 ballot. This could give proponents the opportunity for well-coordinated mobilization in an accelerated time frame. Because the measure would appear alongside more than a dozen other ballot measures, voters may experience ballot fatigue, increasing the likelihood that such a significant policy happens without the consideration it deserves. It might be too late before many Arizonans realize its implications before it becomes state law. In contrast, HB 2248 would follow the standard legislative process and require the governor’s signature to become law.

It is critical that the Arizona Legislature votes no on HCR 2056 and HB 2248. In particular, if HB 2248 is passed, Governor Hobbs must swiftly veto it to save lives and promote autonomous decision-making for all. Benefits of vaccines work only when most people partake. If the “right to refuse” is enacted in law, vaccine uptake is compromised further and vaccine-preventable diseases continue to spread.

Make your voice heard on behalf of our children’s and community’s public health, safety and autonomy by letting our policymakers know that freedom of choice for some shouldn’t include danger of preventable disease for all — that’s just bad medicine. 

Alexis Koskan, PhD, is an associate professor in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University.

Rachel Gur-Arie, PhD, MS, is an assistant professor with Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University.

Sarah Martinelli, MS, RD, SNS, is a clinical associate professor at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University.

Swapna Reddy, JD, DrPH, MPH, is clinical professor and the Assistant Dean of Strategic & Global Partnerships at College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University.