House won't consider vaccine exemptions, AI guidelines during special session

The Florida House won’t take up bills to eliminate vaccine exemptions and create artificial intelligence guidelines at this week’s special session, as Gov. Ron DeSantis expected.

On Tuesday, as lawmakers opened the session primarily aimed at redrawing congressional districts, House Speaker Daniel Perez said the ancillary issues are off the table this week because no bill was filed in his chamber.

Perez said House members will be free to return home after Wednesday’s vote on redistricting.

“There are, of course, other issues contained in the call; however, there were no bills filed on these policies prior to the start of this special session,” Perez said. “Consequently, we will not be taking up those issues.”

The vaccine and AI issues were top priorities for the governor, who postponed the special session a week to make a final push before his term ends in January.

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Perez's move means the medical freedom bill "seems dead in this special session," said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida.

"Both the House and the Senate have to pass the same version of the bill and send it to the governor, and the speaker has made a pretty clear declarative statement that they are not taking up medical freedom," Jewett said.

"And thus, if the House isn't going to take it up, it's just not going to go anywhere. It's not going to become law, not this special session."

Florida's former surgeon general Scott Rivkees also applauded the move.

"This shows what happens when common sense, the public voice, and strong rooted medical practice prevails over fringe science," Rivkees told WUSF.

"One thing that I learned from my time in Tallahassee, is that politicians listen to the public. With the recent polling showing overwhelming support for required school vaccines, it is not surprising that legislation that would topple a clear public health success would not go through."

“Voters elected Republicans to protect freedom against both the Big Tech cartel and the medical industrial complex,” DeSantis wrote on X after Perez’s announcement. “Yet, when given the chance to deliver for their constituents, not a single Republican House member could even be bothered to file a bill. Typical political shenanigans.”

During the regular legislative session this spring, the vaccine bill was supported by parents' rights advocates and opposed by medical professionals worried that it could lead to a larger spread of preventable diseases.

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During the regular session, the Senate passed a version of the measure, but it received no attention in the House. On Friday, bill sponsor Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, refiled an identical measure.

The bill (SB 6D) would have expanded vaccine exemptions for K-12 schools, creating a new “conscience” category for parents to opt out of immunizations. It would also have required health care workers to provide alternative vaccine schedules for children and make ivermectin available without a prescription.

Also, Florida’s surgeon general would be stripped of the power to require a vaccine during a public health emergency under the bill.

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The bill, though, would have fallen short of Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo’s push to repeal all vaccine mandates.

Since then, the Department of Health started the rulemaking process of repealing requirements for Hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for public school attendance.

The repeal of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, polio, diphtheria, rubeola and tetanus vaccines, however, required legislative action. No legislator filed a bill to remove those requirements from Florida law this year.

Information from News Service of Florida was used in this report.