Florida Demands Catholic Church Honor Religious Vaccine Exemptions

The AG cited the Vatican's statement that COVID-19 vaccination "must be voluntary"

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is putting the Roman Catholic Church on notice: if Catholic schools want to keep accepting taxpayer-funded vouchers, they need to start accepting religious vaccine exemptions for students.

In a letter sent Friday to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uthmeier argued — citing the Catholic Catechism, Pope Leo, and scripture — that Catholic doctrine does not actually support denying students religious exemptions from vaccines.

“I therefore urge Catholic schools to comply with Florida law and grant religious exemptions to school vaccine policies,” Uthmeier wrote to Michael Sheedy, the conference’s executive director. “Failure to comply could jeopardize eligibility for state educational scholarship programs.”

The letter lands just 10 days before most Florida school districts start the 2026-2027 school year.

The stakes are significant. More than 500,000 students statewide use Florida’s private school voucher program, and many attend Catholic schools. As of March 2026, voucher programs account for roughly a quarter of the state’s education budget, up from just 12 percent in 2021.

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops says it’s reviewing the letter and will respond. “Be assured, Florida’s Catholic schools are operating in accord with the law and Church teaching,” said conference spokesperson Michele Taylor.

Uthmeier didn’t call out any single diocese by name, but he did reference the immunization policies of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Notably, Uthmeier and several top Florida Republicans — including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Henry Mack — are themselves Catholic.

This fight is part of a bigger, ongoing battle. DeSantis has repeatedly pushed to repeal Florida’s vaccine mandates and expand exemptions, but every legislative attempt has failed, including a bill earlier this year that would have created a new “conscience” exemption category and required health care workers to offer alternative vaccine schedules. According to CBS News, the Catholic conference has lobbied against these efforts, urging lawmakers to keep vaccine requirements in place.

Uthmeier’s letter, citing church-affiliated statements, argues that vaccines are not a “moral obligation” under Catholic teaching — especially those derived from fetal tissue. He quotes a Vatican statement on the morality of COVID-19 vaccines: “practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.”

But while Catholic doctrine strongly opposes abortion, the Vatican has said it’s “morally acceptable” to use cell lines derived from aborted fetuses in vaccines when no alternative exists.

That nuance matters here: Florida requires K-12 students to be vaccinated against polio, measles, rubella, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), diphtheria, and tetanus. The rubella vaccine — part of the combined MMR shot — was developed using cell lines from an aborted fetus decades ago. But because no alternative vaccine exists to prevent this contagious and potentially deadly disease, the Church has held that its use is permissible.