Did school vaccines — and whether they should be mandated for attendance or made easier for parents to reject them — just get injected into the race for Florida governor?
With five months left before he's term limited out of office, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday released a proposed regulation that would eliminate a number of vaccines required for public and private school students and make it easier for parents to opt out if vaccines conflict with "sincerely held moral or ethical belief(s)."
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The proposed rule was released one day after Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Byron Donalds, appearing on "Face the Nation," said he'd like to "study and really engage it" before making a decision about whether to repeal statutory vaccine requirements for schools.
During that same interview, Donalds suggested a measles outbreak in Southwest Florida may be happening in part because "people have come into the country illegally" and "have not had that vaccination schedule."
Donalds' position differs from that of Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who has suggested the outbreak is tied to abortion opposition.
Florida has 142 reported measles cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That ranks Florida fifth in the number of cases behind South Carolina (670), Utah (526), Pennsylvania (321), and Virginia (176).
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly's camp said if elected Jolly would fire Ladapo.
"Floridians are done with people playing politics with our children's health. As governor David Jolly will fire the Surgeon General and follow the guidance of a new Surgeon General who embraces science and evidence-based public health," Mark Riddle, senior adviser to Jolly, said in a text to the Phoenix.
The debate comes after a number of Florida legislative Democrats sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CDC Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya and Ladapo.
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In the letter, the legislators said they were concerned about communication and coordination problems surrounding infectious disease threats.
"In recent years, our public health partners, hospitals, and doctor's offices in our legislative districts have experienced lapses in the timely and consistent communication, guidance, and coordination needed to support effective responses to infectious disease threats," the letter, sent by Rep. Yvonne Hinson of Gainesville and signed by 14 other state House Democrats, reads.
"A renewed federal and state effort is needed to restore confidence in core public health responsibilities, including disease surveillance, clinician alerts, outbreak reporting, technical assistance, laboratory coordination, and clear public-facing risk communication. These functions are essential when new threats arise and when familiar diseases re-emerge in communities."
The new regulation isn't a new idea. Ladapo first rolled out the proposed change about a year ago, equating vaccine mandates with slavery, calling them wrong and immoral, and declaring, "Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God."
The changes
Florida law contains a number of immunization requirements for the young and old. The DeSantis administration has taken aim only at the mandates for children.
The state allows exemptions for valid medical reasons and religious and certain belief systems, and, in some cases, allows personal exemptions for philosophical beliefs.
ALSO READ: School vaccination rates inch down yet again and exemptions reach record high
For entry and attendance in schools, childcare facilities and family daycare homes, state law requires children to be immunized for poliomyelitis, diphtheria, rubeola, rubella, pertussis, mumps, tetanus and "other communicable diseases as determined by rules of the Department of Health."
Under that authority, the health department has required through regulation that children also be immunized for haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox) and pneumococcal conjugate.
The proposed new rule released Monday contains a trio of changes:
- It first eliminates vaccine mandates that aren't required by law;
- It proposes changes to the religious exemption form to allow opt-outs for parents and guardians who maintain immunizations conflict with their "sincerely held moral or ethical belief(s)."
- It allows parents to opt out of their children's information being input into SHOTS, the State Health Online Tracking System, a free statewide online immunization registry used to track and manage vaccine records.
The administrative process
DeSantis leaves office in about five months, which is not a long time when it comes to the rulemaking process.
Last year, when the administration announced it wanted to eliminate vaccine mandates, it published notice of what it called "rule development," the first step in the rulemaking process.
During rule development, the public can request a public workshop, an opportunities to provide insights on a proposal.
There were requests for public hearings and health department complied by holding one meeting in December.
The agency didn't continue down the rulemaking path following the meeting, however, instead lobbying the Legislature to change the policy via statute, thereby negating the need for administrative changes.
But the Legislature didn't pass the governor's proposal during the 2026 regular session or any subsequent special sessions.
Without the help of the Legislature, the DeSantis administration was forced to go back through the rulemaking process. Now it's doing that.
But it didn't begin the process with the traditional first step, notice of rulemaking development. This time, the administration released notice of a proposed rule change, typically the second step in the process.
Following publication of a proposed new regulation, the public has 21 days to request a public hearing.
Hearings, according to Jacksonville healthcare attorney and lobbyist Christopher Nuland, are more formal than workshops. Hearings give the public the opportunity to comment on specifics of a proposal and what they like or don't like about it.
If following the hearing the agency makes no changes to the proposed regulation, the public has 21 days to file a challenge in the state Division of Administrative Hearings.
During such a dispute, the rule wouldn't go into effect.
And these challenges can take months to resolve.
Still, Nuland said, that could change if the governor pushes hard enough.
"What's going to be interesting is, does DeSantis make this his going-away shot and push this to get this in before he leaves office," he said.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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