Doctors Clash with Florida Officials Over Plan to Repeal Meningitis and Chickenpox Vaccine Mandates for Schools

Florida Health Officials Move to Repeal Certain Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren Amidst Professional Opposition

Over the objections of pediatricians and infectious-disease specialists, Florida health officials took initial steps Friday to do away with certain vaccine mandates for schoolchildren. The proposal, discussed during a Department of Health workshop in Panama City Beach, has drawn strong criticism from physicians and educators, while receiving applause from vaccine critics and supporters of Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration.

### Proposed Changes to Vaccine Requirements

The plan includes removing vaccination mandates for several diseases, including:

– Hepatitis B
– Varicella (commonly known as chickenpox)
– Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), which can cause meningitis
– Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which can lead to pneumonia and meningitis

Other vaccination requirements mandated by state law—such as those for polio, diphtheria, measles (rubeola), rubella, mumps, and tetanus—would remain intact.

### Background and Legislative Process

In September, Governor DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced plans to eliminate certain vaccine requirements. Notably, the requirements targeted in the current proposal are codified in state rules, which the Department of Health can amend through a procedural process. However, the mandates established by state law would require legislative approval to change.

Surgeon General Ladapo has indicated his intention to work with lawmakers to eliminate vaccine requirements stipulated by law.

### Medical Community Voices Strong Opposition

The vast majority of healthcare professionals who spoke at the workshop expressed vehement opposition to the proposed repeal, warning that such measures could reverse decades of medical progress.

“I want to make this clear and loud. I want everyone to know how serious matters are. Just in the past six months, we’ve had two patients in the ICU with Hib. One child, unfortunately, succumbed at four months of age. No vaccines,” said Panama City pediatrician Eehab Kenawy.

Dr. Kenawy recounted another tragic case involving a two-year-old unvaccinated child who arrived at the hospital with brain abscesses, seizures, and was declared “brain dead.” The child’s mother pleaded with doctors to “give my child every vaccine you can,” he told the Department of Health panel.

Kenawy emphasized that religious exemptions already exist, allowing parents and guardians to opt out of vaccinations. “You’re not forced. But sending a message to the general public that vaccines are not important, vaccines are not needed, is not the way to do it,” he added.

### Surge in Opposition to Vaccine Mandates

Opposition to vaccine mandates has surged in Florida following the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor DeSantis and Surgeon General Ladapo have been among the most prominent critics questioning vaccine efficacy. In September, Ladapo pledged to eliminate all vaccine requirements for schoolchildren, famously stating, “All of them. All of them. Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.”

### Policy Focused on Parental Rights and Medical Freedom

When asked by civil-rights attorney Simone Chriss of Gainesville-based Southern Legal Counsel whether national medical experts were consulted during the crafting of the proposal, Emma Spencer, the Department of Health’s division director for public health statistics and performance management, responded:

“The (proposed) rule language is grounded in policy based on considerations that favor parental rights and medical freedom.”

The proposal also seeks to expand exemptions for vaccinations. Currently, parents may request waivers for immunizations that conflict with their religious beliefs. The draft rule would broaden this to include exemptions based on a “sincerely held moral or ethical belief.”

### Calls to Maintain Current Vaccine Requirements

Family medicine physician Dr. Paul Arons of Tallahassee urged officials to maintain existing mandates, expressing alarm over Ladapo’s rhetoric.

“The surgeon general has likened the obligation to protect oneself and others from vaccine-preventable diseases to slavery and has cast doubts on the efficacy of some of these vaccines, rather than celebrating their benefits and urging their maximum deployment. I’m here to beseech you, please do not change this rule which will set in motion the dismantling of the successful lifesaving system of public health,” said Arons, a former medical director of the Department of Health’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS.

### Support from Vaccine Mandate Critics

Conversely, Susan Sweetin, chief marketing officer for the National Vaccine Information Center, supported the proposal. She shared her personal experience, stating her son was injured by a vaccine administered at birth and criticized pediatricians who refuse to treat unvaccinated children.

“This is not informed consent. That is coercion. Vaccines should never be tied to a child’s education. Nothing that pierces the skin should ever be used as leverage over a child’s opportunity to education and to learn. I thank the Florida health department for proposing the removal of vaccine mandates and for recognizing that parental rights and informed consent must guide these guidelines,” Sweetin said.

### Changes to Florida SHOTS Database Participation

The proposal would also allow parents, guardians, and college or university applicants aged 18 to 23 to opt out of the Florida SHOTS program, a statewide database that collects vaccination information.

### Public Comment Period and Academic Concerns

Health officials will accept public comments on the proposed rule changes until December 22.

Dr. Michael Haller, a pediatrician and professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, submitted a paper and formal resolution expressing concerns on behalf of the faculty council.

“For pediatricians, this is not partisan. It is a medical and public-health issue with well-documented consequences. Decades of data from the United States and internationally show that weakening or removing school vaccine requirements lead to lower immunization rates. When vaccination rates fall, herd immunity is lost. And when herd immunity is lost, we see the return of serious and sometimes fatal diseases—measles, pertussis, mumps, pneumococcal disease, and others,” Haller stated.

He warned, “If Florida removes school vaccine requirements, the outcomes are predictable: increased preventable infectious disease, more hospitalizations, especially among infants, immunocompromised children, and medically fragile adults.”

—

*Reporting by Dara Kam, News Service of Florida.*
https://flaglerlive.com/vaxx-repeals/

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