Florida lawmakers say they were blindsided by Wednesday’s announcement from the state’s Surgeon General — a sweeping move that could drastically change public health policy across the state.
In a bold declaration, Surgeon General Dr. Joe Ladapo, alongside Governor Ron DeSantis, announced plans to eliminate all vaccine mandates currently in Florida.
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“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 is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery” Ladapo said.
It’s the latest move by the DeSantis administration to roll back vaccine mandates — despite concern from the medical community and educators across the state.
Currently, state law mandates several vaccines for students, including those for Polio, Rubella, Mumps, Measles, and others. These requirements are enshrined in Florida statute.
But the question remains, can the state just do away with these mandates overnight? Searching for answers, WPTV’s Michael Hoffman sat down with state senator Lori Berman on the Health and Human Services committee. She says, the short answer is: no.
“The ones that are not in statute can be changed by regulation, unfortunately, and that probably will happen. But a lot of the really big, important vaccines are right now the law and statute,” Berman explained.
That means any change to those legally protected mandates would need to go through the state legislature.
Despite that, Ladapo strongly defended the move.
“It’s wrong. It’s immoral. They do not have the right to tell you what you put in your body. They don’t have the right to tell you what your kids have to put in your body,” he said.
Berman acknowledges the debate around personal choice but stresses the broader public health implications.
“There are certain people who can't get vaccines, and so if you don’t have herd immunity in the community, you’re putting those people at risk,” she said.
Berman says parallels can be drawn between Wednesday’s decision and recent shakeups at the CDC.
“Even before Secretary Kennedy was in charge of the Department of Health, the Surgeon General was a very strong anti-vaxxer, and very much on the opposite side of where most of the medical profession was,” said Senator Berman. “Now, with the support that he's gotten from the federal government, he's only become more anti-vaxxer and stronger.”
