Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announces push to eliminate vaccine mandates for children leading to debate amid questions of public health and liberty.
A question of safety versus liberty? A disaster in the making? Florida is set to end all state vaccine mandates for children, officials have announced.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo during a news conference on Wednesday announced that the state would no longer require children attending schools to be vaccinated against several of the most contagious diseases.
These include measles, mumps and rubella, polio, tetanus, chickenpox and Hepatitis B.
‘Make America Healthy Again’?
The measure comes as Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, who previously championed a ‘medical freedom’ campaign at the height of Covid-19, including scrapping mask mandates and prohibiting employers from requiring Covid-19 vaccines for employment may now scrap all vaccine and immunisation requirements for the greater public.
The new move which will require state legislature confirmation makes Florida the first US state to eliminate all vaccine mandates for children. The move comes months after Idaho became the first state in the nation to outlaw vaccine mandates in both public and private sectors.
Wednesday’s announcement aligns itself with with the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement championed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The mandate comes as the U.S Dept of Health and Human Services advocates for action to ‘reform America’s food, health, and scientific systems to identity the root causes of the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Health Again.’
‘Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,’ Ladapo said about Florida’s vaccine requirements. ‘Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right. Your body is a gift from God.’
Lapado said forcing vaccine mandates is ‘wrong’ and ‘immoral.’
The state is not banning vaccinations, NBC News reported.
‘You want to put whatever different vaccines in your body, God bless you. I hope you make an informed decision,’ Ladapo said. ‘You don’t want to put whatever vaccines in your body, God bless you. I hope you make an informed decision. That’s how it should be.’
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: The Surgeon General of Florida just announced ALL VACCINE MANDATES IN FLORIDA will be ENDED, and the room erupted.
All. Not just COVID. ALL.
JOSEPH LADAPO: “Every last one is wrong and DRIPS with disdain and slavery! Who am I, or anyone else, to tell YOU what… pic.twitter.com/Kah5LscGTo
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 3, 2025
Florida vaccine mandate leads to debate
Lapido a vaccine sceptic, has railed against vaccines in Florida in the past, saying that people under 65 shouldn’t get an mRNA Covid vaccine, at the time contradicting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Florida presently has a mix of immunization requirements for those entering schools and colleges, including shots for measles, polio and chicken pox. The state does allow for exemptions, and the most recent data shows nearly 89 percent of students entering kindergarten are immunized.
DeSantis said Wednesday that he backed the push by Ladapo — which will require action by the state Department of Health and concurrence from the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature. He also touted Ladapo again as a possible head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The measure was strongly repudiated by some Democrats, with David Jolly, who is running to succeed DeSantis, saying he would fire Ladapo if elected and urged Republican candidates Byron Donalds and Paul Renner to pledge to do the same, politico reported.
Ending vaccine mandates is reckless and dangerous. It will drive down immunization rates & open the door to outbreaks of preventable diseases, putting children, seniors, and vulnerable Floridians at risk. This is a public health disaster in the making for the Sunshine State.
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, PhD 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) September 3, 2025
State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) called the idea a ‘public health disaster in the making.’
‘To toss aside decades of proven science for political gain is dangerous, short-sighted and will cost lives,’ Eskamani said in a statement. ‘Florida families deserve leaders who put public health and safety first, not ideology.’
The CDC estimates that childhood vaccines save four million lives every year. It remained unclear whether gutting mandatory vaccination for children would have on children, including a spike in diseases and illness and whether decelerating herd immunity would have immeasurable consequences.
In Florida, 88 percent of people have completed all five doses of the TDAP vaccine, which prevents tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough). Herd immunity requires 92 to 94 percent.
And only 88 percent of kindergarteners in Florida are vaccinated against measles, which requires 95 percent for herd immunity.
And then there were these responses on social media below that caught this author’s attention. See what you think?
‘I think Republicans have become what is the best of both parties. We are about total freedom, law and order, free speech, common sense innovation, personal choice. This announcement is about freedom and personal choice. Not long ago it’s what the left was about, supposedly.’
‘Beginning of the end for America. Its descent into religious fundamentalism can be far behind now that the age of reason is ending.’
‘Republicans are a danger to themselves and others, they need to be separated, vilified and isolated from the rest of society.’
‘Well then who are you as a government to tell women what to do with their bodies.’
‘Remember when all the liberals said Floridians were all going to die because they lifted the mask mandates?’
‘When polio comes back I hope these states invest in some iron lungs for these kids. What has happened to America? This country is beholden to RW conspiracy loons who have no science or medical background.’
‘Another reason to stay away from Florida.’
