Florida’s top health official has cleared the way for four vaccines to no longer be required for kids entering public school — hepatitis B, chickenpox, Hib, and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). Specifically, the Florida Department of Health is proposing to drop hepatitis B, chickenpox, Haemophilus influenzae type B, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines from the state’s list of mandatory shots for public school students.
State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, an alumnus of America’s Frontline Doctors, signed off on the change on August 20. The proposed rule, which still needs to clear a 21-day public comment period before it’s finalized, has received support from many parents.
Kate-Lynn Muniz, who has three children, said her family’s views shifted after one of her kids had a severe reaction to a vaccine at age two. She believes vaccination decisions should mainly rest with parents, though she added, “Granted, yes, there should be some state regulations to help guide some parents [who] might not do the research or [who] just might want to go with the typical vaccinations.”
Jasmine Diaz Rodriguez said she hopes the rule change pushes parents to lean more on their pediatricians instead of just following a preset schedule. “I think it’ll allow parents to feel more comfortable questioning what they should do and really getting advice from the doctors rather than just being told like this is kind of what the schedule is and we follow it, and that’s just protocol,” she said. She added, “I think parents are going to know what’s right for their kids.”
Alyssa King welcomed having more say in the matter. “I am happy that we have a choice,” King said. “We’re starting to have more options now, and I think it’s better for their health in the long run, especially at such a young age. Their bodies are so tiny.”
Michael Jean-Baptiste agreed parents should have the final call, but stressed public safety. “Parents obviously want to have the ability to control the choice of what they do with their kids,” he said. “At the end of the day, the safety of everyone is paramount.”
Rachel Grunewald, a mother of two, struck a more middle-ground tone — she sees value in vaccines generally but said she’d welcome the option to skip the school-entry requirement. “I think that some vaccines are necessary. But if we can try not to give our children vaccines to go to school or have that option to not [vaccinate our children], I think that would be great,” she said.
Several parents told WINK News that even with more flexibility, they’d still choose to vaccinate their own kids — they just like having the choice. Others said the change worries them.
Jean-Baptiste pointed to the return of preventable illness as a warning sign. “You’re hearing about these measles outbreaks that are happening locally,” he said. “That’s something that you know we didn’t have to really worry about for decades because of these vaccines. So it’s a bit reckless that people are okay with not vaccinating their children since they’re not seeing an issue now. But I feel like down the line we’re going to pay the consequences for that.”
As for concerns about vaccine safety, he pushed back: “I know there’s a lot of fear of you know supposed side effects, but again, I believe science and doctors have always been at the helm of giving us the best available medicine and possible information. I think it’s a bit reckless for people to just take that information, you know, that they see on the internet and run wild with it.”
Back in September, Ladapo dismissed fears about disease outbreaks if the mandates were dropped, saying outbreak response is already routine for health officials. “We don’t need to do any projections. We handle outbreaks all the time, so there’s nothing special that we would need to do,” he said.
Current figures show roughly 4% of public school students in Lee and Collier counties already hold religious or medical exemptions from vaccination, and the CDC has found nonmedical exemption rates climbing in most states it tracks.
Notably, the four vaccines at the center of the original dispute were never required under Florida law to begin with, but were only mandated through Department of Health policy.
Florida vs. the Church
Florida’s crusade for medical freedom has even drawn in Florida’s Catholic Church. Last month, Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the Roman Catholic Church that Catholic schools risk losing access to taxpayer-funded voucher programs unless they start granting students religious exemptions from vaccines. In a letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uthmeier leaned on the Catholic Catechism, remarks from Pope Leo, and scripture to argue that church doctrine doesn’t actually justify denying students those exemptions.
The bishops’ conference fired back last week, saying it didn’t owe Uthmeier an explanation for its stance but was offering one anyway “out of respect for you and your office.” The conference pointed to the Catechism itself as the basis for its position, citing the passage that “Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good.” The bishops made clear that interpreting Catholic teaching is their call, not the state’s.
Michael B. Sheedy, the conference’s executive director, put it bluntly: “Any insinuation that a government official can dictate to the Catholic Church (or any religion) how to apply her tenets and dogma, violates well-established constitutional religious freedom rights.”
The world and all life were made by our Creator and it is precious. Those who have diseased their fellow beings in their need to make a living have sold their souls for a mess of pottage. They have turned from the truth, because it would not financially benefit them. The human body was not supposed to be a pin cushion for the benefit of the Vaccine Industry.. Health must be earned; it can't be bought.
We actually need the disease outbreaks so we get the ability to test the vaccines' efficacies against real infections as opposed to the confabulated statistics cited in the package inserts. The attorney Aaron Siri has demonstrated quite conclusively that the science and statistics supporting vaccines has been flawed for decades. Outbreaks here in the United States versus in Africa where the drug companies and Gates Foundation control everything would ultimately be a net positive for the entire world.