Florida moves to end all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren

Florida plans to become the first state in the country to eliminate all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, announced on Wednesday.

“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law, all of them. All of them. Every last one of them,” Ladapo said during a news conference alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis. The state’s surgeon general added Florida has “maybe half a dozen” shots mandated currently.

The mandates, which have been in effect for decades, have been a bedrock of the United States’ public health policy aimed at curbing the spread of disease nationwide, the Associated Press noted. Both physician and public health groups have promoted the safety and efficacy of vaccines, especially among schoolchildren.

“People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions,” Ladapo, a vaccine critic, said.

The rollback could lead to fewer children getting immunized against diseases like polio and measles.

The Trump Administration’s changing policies on vaccines under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought on more debate whether parents should opt out of the shots as the school year begins. In Florida, the number of kindergartners with non-medical vaccine exemptions rose this year, as it has nationwide, coinciding with the worst measles outbreak in 30 years.

News that Florida would be ending it’s vaccine policy drew strong reaction in some corners of social media where some people said they would not be visiting Florida, as a result. “After 35 years of many trips to Florida, this is the last straw,” Figgy wrote in the comments section of the New York Times. “We’re selling off our property rather than be subjected to all the disease infected residents that have elected these political hacks that don’t give a fig about their own people, let alone the tourism industry that supports their state.”

In related news, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now questioning whether it’s safe to get multiple respiratory vaccines at once—for example the flu, coronavirus, and other RSV shots—signaling a possible reversal of long-standing federal guidance, the Washington Post reported. Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine official said the agency is now “unsure” about the safety of that practice.