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Florida Department Of Health Seeks To Drop Four Required School Vaccines
August 25, 2026
The state of Florida wants to remove four immunizations from entry requirements for PreK-12 public and private schools.
The Florida Department of Health is proposing a rule to remove Hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for public school attendance, a move that has been in play for almost a year after Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced his intent to get rid of all vaccine mandates in the state.
The rule, which was approved by Ladapo on Aug. 20, has a 21-day period for public input before final approval. DOH did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
The proposed rule also expands religious vaccine exemptions to include moral and ethical beliefs and lets parents and college students opt out of having their records included in the state vaccine database.
Florida currently allows religious exemptions “if immunizations are in conflict with the religious tenets and practices of the child’s parent or guardian,” according to DOH.
Without an exemption, Florida law requires students to receive vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), polio, diphtheria, rubeola and tetanus to attend K-12 public schools. But the immunizations considered for repeal by DOH are only an agency rule, not in state law, and can be repealed by the agency itself.
Last September, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo called on the Legislature to roll back all vaccine mandates in the state.
“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said in Valrico, Hillsborough County, at the time.
“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,” he added.
In response, American Academy of Pediatrics President Dr. Susan Kressly said the move will put children at risk of getting sick.
“The AAP believes every family should have access to immunizations to keep their community healthy,” Kressly said in a released statement. “Schools are an important part of that community. For many kids, the best part of school is being with friends — sharing space, playing on the playground and trading germs. Close contact makes it easy for contagious diseases to spread quickly.”
Even though the move to repeal all vaccine mandates was supported by DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis and then-Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, no legislator filed a bill in any of the multiple legislative sessions in 2026 to remove those requirements from Florida law.
Multiple attempts at a “Medical Freedom” bill that would have expanded vaccine exemptions and mandated doctors to provide an alternate vaccine schedule passed the state Senate but failed to pass the state House.
In December 2025, DOH held an open meeting in Panama City to discuss changing the vaccination requirements for public schools, which Emma Spencer, a director within DOH, said was “grounded in policy based on considerations that favor parental rights and medical freedom.”
Parents’ rights advocates praised the state and also repeated false claims, such as vaccines cause autism, while doctors from around the state pleaded with DOH to reconsider and said it would turn back the clock on medical advancements.
Eehab Kenawy, a Panama City pediatrician, said religious exemptions already exist to allow parents and guardians to opt out of vaccinations for their children.
“You’re not forced. But sending a message to the general public that vaccines are not important, vaccines are not needed, is not the way to do it,” Kenawy said.
by The News Service of Florida
Comments
9 Responses to “Florida Department Of Health Seeks To Drop Four Required School Vaccines”
Shouldn’t the decision to vaccinate or to not vaccinate belong to the parents? If you choose to vaccinate your child(ren) then you shouldn’t worry about your them going to school with unvaccinated children, right? I personally think this is the right decision. People seem to willing to give up their freedom (as in your choice to do or not do something) and let the government decide for them. It is a slippery slope.
This is a deeply troubling decision. Vaccine requirements in schools aren’t about politics, they’re about protecting children, especially those who are most vulnerable. We should be following sound medical evidence and public-health expertise, not turning basic protections for kids into a political issue.
This is absolute recklessness and children and immunocompromised persons will suffer the brunt of this lunacy. All because of performative “freedom” politics and widespread podcast bro misinformation which preys on vulnerable parents. Are seatbelt laws and traffic laws slavery? No, they are a necessary part of a functioning and healthy society that allows for reasonable, safe freedom of movement without reckless endangerment of lives. Vaccines represent freedom as well! Freedom from debilitating disease and crippling medical bills that often can go with severe illness. Our healthcare system is also NOT equipped to handle outbreaks and increased burden of disease. Ladapo isn’t going to be holding ANY parent’s hand at an ICU bedside, either. Absolute lunacy!
Doesn’t mean you can’t get the vaccine for your child anyway. They should be scaling back all these vaccines that are required instead of being left up to the actual parent.
Big pharma will be screaming at the top of their lungs! I must say as a kid years ago we only had a couple immunizations prior to starting school. Most people have no idea that the top 10 drug companies profited over $535 billion dollars last year.
I’m old enough to remember Polio and saw the horrible results on children’s bodies. I had Chicken Pox and Measles and Mumps and lived through those diseases as a child. Wasn’t pleasant but affected me a week. I was vaccinated one item at a time. It’s all compounded currently. More vaccines in One super injection.
Why? Ease of less trips to the doctor. Parents pay less doctor visits.
Swimming against the current of public opinion, I advised my granddaughter to insist on only ONE vaccine at a time for my great grandson.
Making preventable diseased great again.
Praying to God after your child gets sick when you could have prevented it makes no sense. Protecting our children as parents is our job.
Ok removing varicella is just plain stupid