Wednesday afternoon, Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo announced plans to end state vaccine mandates, including for schools, becoming the first state to ban mandates intended to slow infection rates.

At a news conference in Tampa, Dr. Ladapo compared the mandates to slavery

  “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?’

Florida law currently mandates students must receive polio, diphtheria, rubeola, rubella, pertussis, mumps and tetanus vaccines, although religious and medical exemptions are allowed. Ending these mandates would “require changes from the legislature,” said Gov. Ron Desantis, who was in attendance with Dr. Ladapo.

Mounting concerns 

Experts are concerned that if these mandates are ended, infectious disease rates may increase exponentially.

“This unprecedented rollback would undermine decades of public health progress and place children and communities at increased risk for diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death,” said Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, in a statement from the American Medical Association (AMA). “While there is still time, we urge Florida to reconsider this change to help prevent a rise of infectious disease outbreaks that put health and lives at risk.”

The Florida Health Department put out a report in April 2025 that said Hepatitis A, Pertussis, and Varicella rates increased in Florida. For both Hepatitis A and Pertussis, more than half of cases were unvaccinated or not up-to-date. In the report, religious exemptions (REs) were listed as a potential cause.

“Communities with a higher proportion of religious exemptions (REs) to vaccination are at increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease transmission. The proportion of children aged 5-17 years with new REs is increasing each month. Statewide, the estimated prevalence of REs among children aged 5-17 years old is 6.39% with individual counties ranging from 1.52-15.03%,” said the report.

National Changes

Ladapo’s announcement comes days after the FDA’s announcement that COVID and Flu vaccines would be limited to specific groups, mainly adults 65 and over or young people with underlying conditions, in many states including Florida. It’s unclear when retail pharmacies will make the vaccines available, including for older adults and high-risk adults. 

Additionally, Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez after she refused Kennedy’s anti-vaccine platform.

Thursday, September 4th, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy defended the ousting of Monarez, claiming the changes as necessary and citing criticisms of the CDC’s handling of the COVID pandemic.

“These changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world’s gold standard public health agency, with a central mission of protecting Americans from infectious disease,” Kennedy said. “The people at the CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving.”