Currently, children in the state must be vaccinated against several common illnesses (e.g. chicken pox and polio) to attend school.
It comes as part of an effort to ban all vaccine mandates in the state.
Background
Soon after his re-election, U.S. President Donald Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr as Secretary of the federal Health Department.
Kennedy has been a leader of the anti-vaccine movement since the 2000s.
Before he ran for president in 2024, he founded an anti-vaccine organisation called Children’s Health Defense, and has said he believes a range of conditions from food allergies to autism are tied to childhood vaccinations.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also opposes vaccinations.
In a speech this week, DeSantis said the “medical establishment” had implemented “coercive measures” and “mandates” during the COVID-19 pandemic that pushed “products on people they didn’t want.”
Proposed ban
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The proposed ban would make Florida the first U.S. state to repeal mandatory school vaccinations.
DeSantis said he will work with Florida’s Health Department and the state parliament to implement the ban.
At a press conference on Wednesday (local time), Ladapo suggested the ban was religiously motivated.
“Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God. I don’t have that right. Government does not have that right,” Ladapo said.
Ladapo and DeSantis are planning to ban “every last one” of the state’s vaccine mandates, including for aged care residents and university students.
Comments
Medical experts and state Democrats have opposed the ban.
The American Medical Association said it “strongly opposes” the plan, which it said will “place children and communities at increased risk for diseases… resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death.”
Senator Shevrin Jones said: “Ending vaccine mandates poses a grave public health risk and will likely lead to a resurgence of preventable diseases.”
