❓WHAT HAPPENED: Plans to phase out all childhood vaccine mandates have been announced by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), alongside the creation of a state-level “Make America Healthy Again” commission.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Governor DeSantis, state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, and DeSantis’s wife, Casey.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Announced September 3 in Valrico, Florida, during a news conference in the Tampa area.
💬KEY QUOTE: “They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them.” – Dr. Joseph Ladapo
🎯IMPACT: If implemented, Florida would become the first state to eliminate such extensive vaccine mandates, with a broader “medical freedom package” expected in the next legislative session.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced on September 3 that his administration will begin phasing out all childhood vaccine mandates, marking a significant shift in public health policy. The move, unveiled during a press conference in Valrico, near Tampa, builds on an ongoing push to limit government intervention in personal medical decisions.
State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo strongly criticized current vaccine requirements, calling them an “immoral” intrusion on individual rights and likening them to “slavery.” He framed the policy shift as a matter of personal and parental autonomy. “People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions,” Ladapo said. “They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them.”
While the Florida Department of Health has the authority to eliminate some vaccine mandates, removing others, such as those for measles, chickenpox, and polio, required for school and daycare, will require legislative approval. DeSantis confirmed that the ultimate goal is to end all state-level vaccine mandates for children.
Alongside the mandate phase-out, DeSantis also launched a “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) commission, a Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-inspired state panel aimed at promoting informed consent, parental rights, and questioning entrenched medical norms. The commission will be chaired by Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (R) and First Lady Casey DeSantis. “We’re getting government out of the way, getting government out of your lives,” Collins said during the event. The MAHA commission’s recommendations will form the basis for introducing a broader “medical freedom package” during the next legislative session. “There will be a broad package,” DeSantis said, underscoring his administration’s stance against federal health mandates.
Florida’s push aligns with growing national scrutiny of vaccine policy, including recent high-profile actions taken by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In June, Kennedy “retired” all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), saying the panel had become compromised by conflicts of interest and had lost public trust.
Kennedy Jr. argued the committee served as “little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.” Later that month, he withdrew U.S. funding from a global vaccine initiative backed by Bill Gates.
Image by Chhor Sokunthea / World Bank.
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