The state of Florida is pressing forward with a plan to remove four immunizations from entry requirements for PreK-12 public and private schools.

“The Florida Department of Health is proposing a rule to remove hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for public school attendance,” CBS News reports.

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo previously said he wants to remove all vaccine mandates in the Sunshine State.

“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said.

“Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right. Your body is a gift from God,” he added.

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The rule, which was approved by Ladapo on Aug. 20, has a 21-day period for public input before final approval. DOH did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The proposed rule also expands religious vaccine exemptions to include moral and ethical beliefs and lets parents and college students opt out of having their records included in the state vaccine database.

Florida currently allows religious exemptions “if immunizations are in conflict with the religious tenets and practices of the child’s parent or guardian,” according to DOH.

Without an exemption, Florida law requires students to receive vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), polio, diphtheria, rubeola and tetanus to attend K-12 public schools. But the immunizations considered for repeal by DOH are only an agency rule, not in state law, and can be repealed by the agency itself.

Unsurprisingly, American Academy of Pediatrics president Dr. Susan Kressly criticized the move.

“The AAP believes every family should have access to immunizations to keep their community healthy,” Kressly said in a statement, according to WUSF.

“Schools are an important part of that community. For many kids, the best part of school is being with friends — sharing space, playing on the playground and trading germs. Close contact makes it easy for contagious diseases to spread quickly,” she added.

WUSF has more:

Even though the move to repeal all vaccine mandates was supported by DeSantis, first lady Casey DeSantis and then-Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, no legislator filed a bill in any of the multiple legislative sessions in 2026 to remove those requirements from Florida law.

Multiple attempts at a “medical freedom” bill that would have expanded vaccine exemptions and mandated doctors to provide an alternate vaccine schedule passed the state Senate but failed to pass the state House.

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In December, the health department held an open meeting in Panama City to discuss changing the vaccination requirements for public schools, which Emma Spencer, a director within agency, said was “grounded in policy based on considerations that favor parental rights and medical freedom.”

 

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