Florida drops bid to widen school vaccine exemptions but still seeks to end 4 requirements

The Florida Department of Health is moving ahead with a plan to remove the requirement that children entering school receive four vaccines, but it has dropped an attempt to expand exemptions to the immunization rules.

In August, the department struck the words "sincerely held moral or ethical belief" from a proposed rule change that would have let parents opt out of vaccines normally required to attend K-12 public schools. Exemptions now in place must be based on religious tenets and practices.

The department has announced a public meeting Oct. 8 in Lake Mary to discuss repealing the requirement of four vaccines for entry to public and private schools, from prekindergarten through 12th grade. They are the vaccines for hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate.

The requirements are an agency rule, not state law, so the department can repeal them itself. The effort has been in play for more than a year, since Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced his intent to end all vaccine mandates in the state.

The Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement that it "remains concerned" about the state's move to weaken vaccination mandates.

"Florida's pediatricians will continue to make their voices heard in opposition to this proposed rule that would undermine the health of Florida's children and communities," the statement reads. "When school vaccine protections are eliminated, immunization rates decrease, leaving more people, including those too young or medically unable to be vaccinated themselves, vulnerable to contracting these dangerous illnesses."

In a comment opposing the proposed rule, the chapter estimated that repealing the requirements would cut the state's gross domestic product by $74 million in the first year and by nearly $9 billion over a decade.

The push to repeal all vaccine mandates began more than a year ago, when Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo asked the Legislature to change state law. Legislative action is needed to remove the requirements for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and for polio, diphtheria, rubeola, and tetanus vaccines.

Although DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis, and then-Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas supported the repeal, no legislator filed a bill in any of the legislative sessions in 2026.

Multiple attempts at a "Medical Freedom" bill that would have expanded vaccine exemptions and required doctors to provide an alternate vaccine schedule passed the state Senate but failed in the House.