Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo have ended mandatory childhood vaccines. As of September 3, 2025, vaccines against measles, polio and more are no longer required for children to attend schools and daycares alike. This makes Florida the first state to remove what is considered by many healthcare and education professionals to be a corner stone of public health.
What this choice will actually mean in terms of the legalities surrounding vaccines and vaccinations still remains unclear.
There are multiple vaccines required by schools in order for students to attend starting in daycare. The number of required vaccines grows from preschool to 12th grade. Neither Desantis nor Ladapo have been very clear on what vaccines are removed and what vaccines are still in place. The announcement by Governor DeSantis talked more about Florida making it’s own Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission at the state level. It’s unclear if this commission is connected to the removal of vaccines. It was announced, however that the initiative will be chaired by Casey DeSantis, wife of the governor, and that Ladapo will also be part of the committee.
When it comes to removing vaccines, the Florida Department of Health doesn’t have the power to make this choice on its own, all they are doing is removing the requirements to be vaccinated to attend school. However, there are multiple vaccine requirements in place, Ladapo said the department of Health could only abolish laws that the Florida Department of Health established. They would need the backing of state legislature to properly abolish the laws in place. It remains uncertain what vaccines would need state intervention, and what vaccines are no longer required.
Regarding the vaccines and their removal from requirement, Ladapo says “Every last one is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery! Who am I as a government or anyone else, who am I as a man standing here now, to tell you what you should put in your body?” The governor as well as Surgeon General claim these actions are to remove how much control the government has ‘over our and our family’s bodies’
