Florida moves to scrap all vaccine mandates, first US state to do so

Florida vaccine mandate: Florida officials said the state will eliminate all vaccine mandates, including long-standing requirements for schoolchildren, framing the shift as a matter of parental rights and “medical freedom,” news agency Associated Press reported.

Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the plan alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis at an event near Tampa, calling current mandates “immoral” and saying the state will work to end “every last one of them.” Some rules could be rolled back by the health department, but mandates set in state law would require legislative action, they said.

Also Read | Nine former CDC heads warn: RFK Jr.’s policies ‘endanger public health’

If implemented, Florida would be the first US state to drop all such requirements.

“People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions. They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them,” Ladapo said.

In Florida, vaccine mandates for daycare facilities and public schools include shots for measles, chickenpox, hepatitis B, diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis, polio, and other diseases, according to the state health department’s website.

Public-health groups warned the move could trigger outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles and polio. The American Medical Association urged Florida to reconsider, saying the rollback would “undermine decades of public-health progress.”

The announcement comes amid broader political fissures over US vaccine policy. West Coast governors said they will align immunisation plans through a new alliance in response to perceived politicisation at the federal level, while DeSantis also unveiled a state “Make America Healthy Again” commission to advance “informed consent” initiatives.

Global health agencies have repeatedly emphasised the benefits of vaccination. The World Health Organization estimates immunisation has saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years.