Florida Ends All Statewide Vaccine Mandates

Florida, under Governor Ron DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, has announced plans to end all state vaccine mandates for children and adults, including vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chickenpox, and Hepatitis B. Ladapo, a vocal vaccine critic, equated vaccine mandates to "slavery" and emphasized personal and religious freedom regarding medical decisions, stating that no one has the right to dictate what individuals or their children put into their bodies. The Florida Department of Health will repeal vaccine requirements under its authority, while the governor and legislature will work to eliminate the remaining mandates, despite existing state laws requiring immunizations for several communicable diseases. This move comes amid recent outbreaks of diseases like whooping cough and measles in the state. The announcement was made alongside the establishment of the Florida Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission, chaired by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, which aims to promote medical freedom, informed consent, and address chronic diseases. Nationally, the MAHA initiative is led by President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been criticized for promoting vaccine misinformation.