Governor Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday his intention to work with the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Legislature to roll back vaccine requirements for students in the state’s K-12 schools.
The governor says some required school vaccines can be rolled back by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, while others would have to be repealed by the legislature.
DeSantis said it should be up to families, not the state whether they get their children vaccinated before going to school. He lamented the number of vaccines that kids are required to get nowadays, compared to when he was growing up in the 80s.
“We want people to be able to make the best decisions that they can. But some of this stuff, you know, if you look back when I was growing up, what they would recommend, now they're recommending way more stuff for this,” said DeSantis. “We want informed consent, making sure we're protecting parents rights, and then also just being willing to challenge medical orthodoxy that's not supported by the data.”
Right now, there are a handful of required vaccines for school-age kids in Florida, when a child is entering a daycare, preschool, K-12 school, and specifically the 7th grade. But there are exemptions available for health and religious reasons.
The governor said his ultimate goal is to do away with all vaccine mandates in the state, in both the public and private sectors.
Democratic legislators have pushed back on the governor’s desire to end vaccine mandates in Florida, especially when it comes to required vaccines in schools.
Orlando Democratic Representative Anna Eskamani called the move “reckless” and “a public health disaster in the making.”
“Vaccines are one of the most effective tools we have to protect lives. To toss aside decades of proven science for political gain is dangerous, short-sighted, and will cost lives. Florida families deserve leaders who put public health and safety first, not ideology,” said Eskamani.
Watch the governor’s full press conference here:
But Ladapo said he’s all in when it comes to rolling back vaccine mandates.
“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 to put in your kid's body. They do not have the right. Do not give it to them, take it away from them. And we're going to be starting that here in Florida,” said Ladapo.
On Wednesday, the governor also announced that he had set up a Florida version of the federal Make America Healthy Again commission, or MAHA, which will be co-headed by his wife, the first lady, Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.
“The commission will have several main objectives, including promoting clean, safe and nutritious food and food industry, improving transparency and accountability in healthcare, working on the causes of chronic diseases, to identify and prevent future occurrences, and, you know, maybe more importantly, restoring trust in the medical profession and in public health,” said DeSantis.
DeSantis said Florida MAHA’s goal is to make reforms that empower Floridians, reduce regulatory burdens, and foster incentives for healthy living and innovations in medicine.
Make America Healthy Again is an initiative that U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started this year. It focuses on getting to the root or underlying causes of chronic medical conditions in the United States.
Some of the initiatives that have come out of federal MAHA include a push to remove certain dyes from processed food and candies and a study into the causes of autism.
Here’s the full list of required school vaccines in Florida :
Childcare and/or Family Daycare
- Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP)
- Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV)
- Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR)
- Varicella (chickenpox)
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
- Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV15/20)
- Hepatitis B (Hep B)
Preschool Entry
- DTaP
- IPV
- MMR
- Varicella
- Hib
- Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV15/20)
- Hepatitis B (Hep B)
Kindergarten through 12th Grade
- Four or five doses of DTaP
- Four or five doses of IPV
- Two doses of MMR
- Three doses of Hep B
- One Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap)
- Two doses of Varicella (kindergarten effective with 2008–2009 school year, then an additional grade is added each year thereafter). Varicella vaccine is not required if there is a history of varicella disease documented by the health care provide
Additional Requirements: 7th Grade
In addition to compliance with all other immunization requirements, children entering, attending, or transferring to the 7th grade in Florida schools must complete the following:
- One Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap)
Here’s additional vaccine guidance from the state:
