Florida is preparing to eliminate all state vaccine mandates, including those required for schoolchildren, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced Wednesday. If approved, Florida would become the first U.S. state to scrap vaccine requirements fully, a decision that public health experts warn could lower immunization rates and increase the risk of outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio. The state already leads the Southeast in nonmedical vaccine exemptions among kindergartners.
The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law, every single one of them,” Ladapo said at a news conference. He argued the mandates restrict freedom, though health officials note vaccines have saved more than 1.1 million children’s lives in the U.S. and prevented billions in healthcare costs.
Ladapo, a longtime vaccine critic, has previously raised concerns about Covid-19 shots and opposed federal guidance. The announcement comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushes sweeping changes to national vaccine policy, including ending Covid shot recommendations and cutting funding for mRNA vaccine research.
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