Florida plans to become the first state to eliminate vaccine mandates, a long-standing public health tool designed to protect schoolchildren and adults from infectious diseases.
State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced the decision Wednesday, describing current school and other vaccine requirements as “immoral” intrusions on personal rights that restrict parents from making health choices for their children.
“People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions,” Ladapo, who has often clashed with the medical establishment, said at a news conference in Valrico. “They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them.”
Florida’s move marks a major shift from decades of public policy and research showing that vaccines are safe and the most effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, particularly among schoolchildren. The decision also aligns with the Trump administration’s agenda promoted by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine advocate.
Dr. Rana Alissa, chair of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said eliminating vaccines puts students and school staff at higher risk.
“When everyone in a school is vaccinated, it is harder for diseases to spread and easier for everyone to continue learning and having fun,” Alissa said in an email. “When children are sick and miss school, caregivers also miss work, which not only impacts those families but also the local economy.”
Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is running for Orlando mayor, said in a social media post that eliminating vaccines “is reckless and dangerous” and could trigger outbreaks of preventable diseases.
“This is a public health disaster in the making for the Sunshine State,” Eskamani said on the platform X.
Amid turmoil at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused by Kennedy’s extensive restructuring and downsizing, the Democratic governors of Washington, Oregon, and California announced Wednesday that they had formed an alliance to protect health policies. They argued that the administration is politicizing public health decisions and plan to align immunization programs with recommendations from respected national medical organizations, according to a joint statement from the governors.
Vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives globally over the past 50 years, the World Health Organization reported in 2024, with most of the lives saved being infants and children.
“Vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, making once-feared diseases preventable,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.
In Florida, vaccine mandates for child day care facilities and public schools cover shots for measles, chickenpox, hepatitis B, diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis, polio, and other diseases, according to the state Health Department’s website.
Ladapo did not provide a timeline for the changes but said the department could remove some vaccine mandates on its own, while others would require action by the Florida Legislature. He did not specify particular vaccines but emphasized several times that the effort would end “all of them. Every last one of them.”
The American Medical Association said Florida’s plan to end vaccine mandates “would undermine decades of public health progress.”
“While there is still time, we urge Florida to reconsider this change to help prevent a rise of infectious disease outbreaks that put health and lives at risk,” said Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, an AMA trustee.
Under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida resisted requiring COVID vaccines for schoolchildren during the pandemic, though it implemented “passports” for crowded venues, school closures, and mandates requiring workers to get vaccinated to keep their jobs.
“I don’t think there’s another state that’s done as much as Florida. We want to stay ahead of the curve,” the governor said.
DeSantis also announced Wednesday the creation of a state “Make America Healthy Again” commission, modeled after similar initiatives Kennedy established at the federal level.
The commission will explore issues such as allowing informed consent in medical matters, promoting safe and nutritious food, enhancing parental rights in medical decisions for their children, and eliminating “medical orthodoxy that is not supported by the data,” DeSantis said. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis will chair the commission.
DeSantis added that the commission’s work will guide a large “medical freedom package” to be introduced in the Legislature next session. The package would address vaccine mandates required by state law and make permanent the recent state COVID policies that relaxed restrictions.
Leave a Reply