Vaccine Mandate

As lawmakers prepare legislation to roll back mandates, the surgeon general has floated going one step further: banning mRNA vaccines. Medical experts say that would have public health implications.

Even as some policymakers challenge mandates, public opinion largely favors requirements for at least one vaccine to protect children and the broader community.

Speaking with a Houston physician, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo says he doesn't want mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in the state.

At a gathering organized by the UF chapter of the Students for a National Health Program, about 50 people demonstrated against making vaccines voluntary for schoolchildren.

The rule changes could take effect by early December, according to the state Department of Health.

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful and former GOP congressman David Jolly, at a packed town hall in Delray Beach, pitched his vision for "common-sense leadership" and slammed the end of school vaccine mandates, calling for major housing insurance reform, and distancing himself from Trump-era Republicanism.

The city's chief health officer and the president of the Duval County Medical Society have issued written rebukes of the state's plan to phase out the requirements.

Doctors, medical experts and politicians on both sides of the aisle are pushing back on a plan from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo to end the mandates.

On "The Florida Roundup," the president of the American College of Physicians said he believes the state not mandating vaccines for children will increase costs for health care.

It would include only chickenpox and a few others unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases.

"The ripple effect of removing vaccine entry requirements would affect all of us, not just those with children in school," said FCAAP President Rana Alissa.

Teachers voice worries that ending vaccine requirements could bring back preventable illnesses, worsen absenteeism, and endanger medically fragile students.