Florida's vaccine exemption bill for kids gets second chance as lawmakers kick off special session

Florida's attempt to expand vaccine exemptions for children is back in play.

Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, filed the bill again on Friday after it failed to pass during the regular session that ended March 13. Gov. Ron DeSantis has called lawmakers back to address the issue in the special session that starts Tuesday. He also wants the Legislature to pass artificial intelligence regulations and a new congressional districts map.

"This legislation is about the values we hold in high regard: transparency, educated decision-making, and parents being empowered to make medical decisions they believe are best for their children," Yarborough told the News Service of Florida in a text message.

Yarborough's bill (SB 6D) is identical to the measure that died in regular session this year. If passed, it will expand vaccine exemptions for K-12 schools, creating a new "conscience" category for parents to opt out of immunizations. It would also require health care workers to provide alternative vaccine schedules for children and make ivermectin available without a prescription.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health response to it, some Republicans rejected the mRNA vaccines used to combat the disease, rebelling against any mandate or requirement for to get the vaccine to work or enter a business.

At a press conference last week, DeSantis said the Legislature now has another chance to pass the bill.

"None of this Kabuki theater where one house passes it one year, the others do it now. 'Oh, we don't have time.' No, you have time. You have an ability to do it, and so we have an opportunity to get that done," DeSantis said.

Pediatricians, health care practitioners say more exemptions could lead to larger spread of preventable diseases

In previous legislative hearings on the bill, parents' rights advocates supported the measure, but pediatricians and health care practitioners deemed it irresponsible, warning that allowing for more exemptions could lead to the larger spread of preventable diseases.

Republican senators also warned of the repercussions of the bill.

"My physician has said to me, 'Gayle, I don't want to learn how to treat polio,' and that's what's going to happen," said Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, during a Senate Appropriations meeting in February.

The measure will require health care practitioners who administer vaccines to offer parents an alternative vaccine schedule and to provide parents with information about the benefits and risks of vaccines at the time of vaccination. It also requires the state to provide that information to parents when they opt their children out of vaccination.

Another provision allows pharmacists to provide ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug often prescribed for animals, over-the-counter for adults without a prescription. The drug is seen by some as helpful against COVID-19, but medical professionals have warned against its use to combat the virus. Pharmacists would be given immunity from liability under the bill.

Bill would strip Florida surgeon general of power to require a vaccine during a public health emergency

And Florida's surgeon general would be stripped of the power to require a vaccine during a public health emergency under the bill.

The bill, though, falls short of Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo's push to repeal all vaccine mandates.

Since then, the Department of Health has started the rulemaking process of repealing requirements for Hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for public school attendance.

The repeal of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, polio, diphtheria, rubeola and tetanus vaccines, however, requires legislative action. 

No legislator filed a bill to remove those requirements from Florida law this year.