STUART, Fla. — Florida may soon become the first state to eliminate immunization requirements for children, a move that is drawing both applause and concern across the state.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the proposal during a news conference on Wednesday.
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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,” said Ladapo, followed by applause.
Currently, Florida public schoolchildren are required to receive vaccinations for several communicable diseases, including measles, chickenpox, tetanus, and whooping cough. If the policy change is enacted, those requirements would be removed from state law.
The proposal has caught the attention of many Florida parents.
“This is a big step in the right direction to the health of America’s children,” said Charlie Salvante, a father who currently homeschools one of his children in part due to vaccine requirements.
“It’s giving parents more control of what we should and shouldn’t do for our kids,” added Donna Duclo, a local mother.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing that I can be like, OK, he doesn’t need this,” said Leeanne Sylvester, another mother.
For parents like Sylvester, the vaccine mandate played a major role in deciding how she would raise her children.
“We contemplated homeschooling just because of that, so it was a big factor in if we wanted our kids to go to public school,” she said.
Salvante echoed that sentiment, citing concerns with the ingredients vaccines are made with.
“We’ve had trouble with vaccines before, so with Cameron we decided no vaccines, and so this is absolutely fantastic news,” he said.
This announcement is the latest effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis to roll back mandates.
Critics of the proposal, including members of Florida’s medical community and Democratic lawmakers, have warned that eliminating vaccine mandates could increase the risk of outbreaks of preventable diseases.
“Who am I as a government or anyone else? Or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body,” said Ladapo, emphasizing personal choice in medical decisions.
While some parents say they still plan to vaccinate their kids, others feel the fewer vaccines the better. Nonetheless, the choice is there.
“Me and my husband will definitely sit down and really research and see which ones we think should work or which one we should get, but we’re not going to get all of them,” said Duclo.
The Florida Democratic Party has spoken out against the announcement, arguing that removing vaccine mandates could jeopardize public health and reverse decades of progress in preventing infectious disease.
