Childhood vaccination against preventable diseases such as measles, polio, and hepatitis will no longer be mandatory in Florida, a state with a population of over 23 million [1], [2]. Florida authorities did not provide a timeline or details about the end of the mandate.
State Surgeon General of Florida, Joseph Ladapo compared mandatory vaccination to “slavery” in his remarks, adding that he believed the move would receive “God’s blessing.” Ladapo has faced strong criticism from doctors accusing him of spreading misinformation, and his stance aligns with the personal position of the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
All U.S. states require children to be vaccinated in order to attend public schools, though each state has various exemptions.
Democratic lawmaker Anna Eskamani condemned the plan to abolish the requirement as “reckless and dangerous.” Idaho, another Republican-led state, loosened many of its vaccination rules earlier this year but still requires children to be vaccinated.
Childhood vaccination is estimated to have prevented about 508 million cases, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1.13 million deaths among children born in the U.S. between 1994 and 2023, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published last year. The nationwide vaccination program is also estimated to have generated direct savings of $540 billion.
