Florida to end all vaccine mandates, including for schools, first state in the U.S. to do so

Florida plans to extremity each authorities vaccine mandates, including for children to be schools, authorities Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a salient immunization critic, announced Wednesday.

The determination would marque Florida the first-ever authorities successful the U.S. to retreat from the requirements that are credited with expanding vaccination rates successful communities and preventing outbreaks of infectious diseases. The rollback could effect successful less schoolhouse children getting immunized against deadly viruses specified arsenic polio and measles, and comes arsenic Florida leads the Southeast successful non-medical vaccine exemptions among kindergartners.

"The Florida Department of Health, successful concern with the governor, is going to beryllium moving to extremity each vaccine mandates successful Florida law, each of them. All of them. Every past 1 of them," Ladapo said during a quality conference, adding that the authorities has "maybe fractional a dozen" shots mandated successful the state.

All states presently person vaccine requirements to be nationalist schools, though exceptions vary by state. Florida is among the states that already let parents to entity to vaccines connected spiritual grounds.

Ladapo said vaccine mandates "drips with disdain and slavery," adjacent though they are intended to support nationalist health. Vaccines person saved the lives of much than 1.1 cardinal children successful the U.S. and saved Americans $540 cardinal successful nonstop health-care costs over the past 3 decades, according to probe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in August.

Ladapo has agelong stoked fears astir vaccines, and his stances connected shots and different measures person drawn disapproval from the nationalist wellness community. Last year, helium called for a halt to utilizing mRNA Covid-19 shots, citing mendacious claims that the jabs could contaminate a person's DNA.

The determination comes arsenic Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves to change vaccine policy successful the U.S., gutting a cardinal authorities immunization panel, canceling funding for mRNA changeable improvement and dropping Covid changeable recommendations for definite groups.