With Florida's measles outbreak making headlines, the Sunshine State is preparing to welcome millions of college students and families to its beaches, amusement parks and other hotspots for spring break throughout March and April. Doctors worry those visitors may return home with more than tans.
Florida measles (rubeola) cases increased five-fold from January to February, giving the state the third most in the nation for measles this year, behind South Carolina and Utah, according to state and federal health data. Most of Florida's 124 confirmed and suspected cases are among college students in Collier County, where cases surged from eight to 93 from Feb. 1- 28, when the latest Florida Health Department data was published four days ago.
Florida doctors are fighting further erosion of the state's already porous vaccination regimen against polio, tetanus and other infectious diseases, warning that the comeback of measles could be just the beginning.
"It is deeply concerning that such legislation is moving forward while active disease outbreaks, including measles, are occurring during our high-tourism season, turning Florida's traditional spring break month of March into a growing public health concern," said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a call-to-action message this past week to chapter members.
In this high-stakes setting, state lawmakers voted Tuesday to send the Florida Senate a bill that guts school-age vaccination requirements, including the MMR shots that prevent measles, by granting a "conscience" exemption for any reason. The bill does not suggest that vaccines are unsafe nor recommend against their use, but is part of a conservative, anti-regulation movement in Florida. Vaccination requirements apply to public and private schools, pre-Ks and day cares. Currently, exemptions are granted only for medical and religious reasons.
The bill (SB 1756), titled "Medical Freedom," was approved 14-8 Tuesday in the Senate Rules Committee, its last committee stop before heading to the full Senate. It is sponsored by Sen. Clay Yarborough, a Republican who represents Nassau County and part of Duval County, and is backed by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who declared their opposition to vaccine mandates in September.
The bill also would make the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, popular among anti-vaxxers as an unproven remedy for COVID, available from pharmacists without a prescription.
The House version of the bill (HB 917), which would require doctors to accept all patients regardless of vaccination status, has yet to be discussed in a committee.
Leave private schools alone
On Tuesday, Sen. Colleen Burton, a Polk County Republican, tried to amend the bill to let private schools choose to disallow "conscience" exemptions, exposing a rift between Republicans who champion "medical freedom" at all costs and others who reflect majority public opinion in favor of mandatory school-age vaccinations with limited exemptions. Burton's amendment would have carved out a private-school option for pro-vaccine families. She said Yarborough's bill infringes on the medical freedom of pro-vaccine families of school-age children.
"I believe we should give them a choice," Burton said. "(Otherwise) they have no choice but to worry about the health of their children when their children go to school. It's real, and we're ignoring them, and in Florida, they are the vast majority of the parents."
Burton's amendment failed on a split vote, leaving her to vote against Yarborough's bill, as did two other Republicans on the Rules Committee and all the Democrats. Thirteen Republicans and one independent voted yes on the bill.
Regarding the ivermectin component of Yarborough's bill, Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, representing Palm Beach, argued: "Why are we making an exception for one drug? It's a prescription drug. If people want it, go to the doctor. Get it the way you're supposed to get it, through the doctor."
Faced with multiple questions about the science underlying public policy on infectious diseases, vaccines and ivermectin, Yarborough consistently said he was not qualified to comment on those but was standing in support of freedom of choice.
"On the science of it, I don't believe I'd be qualified to give you a full, in-depth, detailed, long answer on that part," he said. He didn't offer brief answers either.
Meanwhile, the tourists are coming. Whether news of Florida's rash of measles, chickenpox and whooping cough dampens their enthusiasm remains to be seen.
Tourism amid measles comeback
Florida destinations can expect roughly 70 million domestic visitors from inside and outside the state in the first six months of the year, which include spring break and the start of summer vacation. That is based on tourism trends reported by Visit Florida, the state's official tourism marketing organization.
This season, their visits will occur during an outbreak of highly contagious measles that may continue to spread or may decline by the time they get here.
Nationally, measles cases in the first two months of 2026 are already half of 2025's 12-month total, with the nation's spring and summer travel holidays still ahead. Of the 1,136 measles cases cited nationally by the CDC through Feb. 26, 58 children and adults have been hospitalized.
Measles reemerged last year as a growing national public health concern, ending 25 years of the United States being considered measles-free (despite a flare-up in 2019). Through all of 2025, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 2,286 cases of measles, mostly in Texas and South Carolina. The disease killed two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of them unvaccinated, according to the CDC.
Previous disease outbreaks in Florida have impacted tourism. Outbreaks of Zika in Miami-Dade in 2016-17 may be indicative. (Zika is a virus that can cause fetal brain defects. There is no vaccine to prevent it). While Zika was making people sick, hotel stays declined by 1 to 2 percent. At its worst, hotel stays fell off 12.5 percent. Such a drop-off statewide would be worth about $530 million in lost revenue, plus the loss of 7,000 jobs, $300 million in paychecks, and $65 million in lost state and local tax revenue, according to an economic analysis published in February by Regional Economic Consulting Group, founded and run by former Florida state economists using official state and federal data and methods.
If Florida vaccination rates continue to fall, the impact on tourism would be recurring, according to the analysis, commissioned by American Families for Vaccines and submitted as evidence in Senate committee hearings.
Currently, Florida requires children who attend private or public schools, pre-kindergarten programs or day care facilities to be vaccinated against 11 infectious diseases: polio; measles, mumps, and rubella (combined into an MMR shot); chickenpox; diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis, or whooping cough (combined into a DTaP shot); Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib); hepatitis; and pneumococcal bacteria.
Political standoff?
Yarborough's vaccination-exemption bill has cleared its last Senate committee. It is now poised to go before the full Senate, though it had not been scheduled as of Wednesday. It was not apparent how the bill could reach the finish line before regular session ends on March 13. But anything could happen if feuding Republicans in the House, Senate and governor's office reach an accord in time.
Through Wednesday evening, with nine days left in the 60-day regular session, only 20 bills had passed both chambers, despite more than 300 bills passing in one chamber or the other, according to a legislative tally. The president of the Senate is GOP Sen. Ben Albritton, who represents Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee counties and parts of Lee and Polk counties. The speaker of the House is GOP Rep. Daniel Perez, who represents part of Miami-Dade.
The House appears to have no appetite for changing vaccine law, having declined to support the one vaccine-related bill put forward by House member Rep. Jeff Holcomb, a Republican who represents parts of Hernando and Pasco counties. Holcomb also drafted but withdrew a bill to allow purchases of ivermectin without a prescription.
"The Republican leadership in the House and Senate are fighting. The governor is fighting with House leadership. Lots of priority bills are stuck in limbo," said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, of Hillsborough County, at a recent Q&A with reporters.
Laura Cassels is a veteran Florida journalist and former Capitol Bureau chief who specializes in science, the environment, and the economy. The Florida Trident is an investigative news outlet focusing on government accountability and transparency across Florida. The Trident was created and first published in 2022 by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a non-profit organization that facilitates local investigative reporting across the state.
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