U.S. House Democrats from Florida have signed a letter urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to reverse Florida's plans to eliminate school vaccine mandates.
Led by U.S. House Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, the lawmakers write that removing the mandates will hurt public health and tourism. They also criticized Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo for comparing vaccine mandates to slavery.
"The majority of Floridians have confidence in and rely upon universal vaccination programs," said Wasserman Schultz in a statement. She also said was disappointed with her Republican congressional colleagues in Florida for not signing the letter.
The letter, signed by all eight House Democrats from Florida, was in response to last Wednesday's announcement by DeSantis and Ladapo to make Florida the first state to remove school vaccine mandates.
Ladapo said the state Health Department would take steps to eliminate the mandates, calling them "immoral" intrusions that hamper parents' ability to make health decisions for their children.
On Monday, after getting pushback from top members of his own Republican Party, including President Donald Trump, DeSantis said he opposed vaccine mandates — not vaccines.
READ MORE: Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly slams end of school vaccine mandates, GOP agenda
State law currently requires students in public and private schools from daycare through 12th grade to have specific immunizations, unless they obtain a valid exemption. The list includes routine childhood immunizations such as DTaP, polio, measles-mumps-rubella, chickenpox and hepatitis B.
Parents can obtain religious exemptions from their county health department if vaccination conflicts with their religious beliefs or practices.
They can also obtain medical exemptions from health providers who have to state that a child cannot be fully immunized with "valid clinical reasoning or evidence, according to the state's health department website. This exemption can be temporary or permanent.
Around 89% of students entering kindergarten in the state are immunized, according to Florida health data, a decline from 94% in 2017.
PolitiFact Florida, a WLRN News partner, contributed to this story.
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