Florida’s anti-vax surgeon general Joseph Ladapo, flanked by Gov. Ron DeSantis, on Wednesday announced plans to get rid of the state’s vaccine requirements, earning swift criticism from the statewide teachers union, public health experts and Democratic lawmakers.
The Florida Education Association warned that eliminating vaccine mandates would make public schools less safe for students and teachers and worsen student absenteeism. According to the New York Times, Florida would be the first state in the U.S. to end all vaccine mandates, if the proposal moves forward.
“When leaders talk about pulling back vaccines, they’re talking about disrupting student learning and making schools less safe,” the FEA, representing more than 120,000 teachers and school staff, said in a statement. “State leaders say they care about reducing chronic absenteeism and keeping kids in school — but reducing vaccinations does the opposite, putting our children’s health and education at risk.”
Ladapo told press at a Wednesday morning news conference that the state would be “working to end” all vaccine mandates in Florida, with Ladapo reportedly likening such mandates to “slavery.”
“People have a right to make their own decisions,” Ladapo argued. “Who am I, as a government or anyone else, to tell you what you should put in your body … What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God.”
Under state law and other guidelines, Florida has long required children entering school to be vaccinated against illnesses such as measles, chickenpox, rubella, hepatitis B, and other infectious diseases — as a public safety measure intended to help reduce important health and safety risks.
Florida’s department of health has limited authority to alter vaccination requirements under state law, although the Tampa Bay Times notes that removing such mandates entirely would require approval from the Florida Legislature (which is dominated by Republicans).
A spokesperson for Orange County Public Schools, Florida’s fourth-largest school district by student enrollment, told Orlando Weekly Wednesday afternoon that they “will adhere” to “all applicable laws and the latest guidelines” from the state, declining to answer specifics on what that might look like in practice.
“As new state regulations are released, staff will promptly review and update the districts health and safety protocols to ensure full compliance,” the spokesperson shared. “Our priority is to maintain a safe, supportive learning environment for all students and families.”
Orlando Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a reliable critic of DeSantis’ more radical initiatives, had a grimmer view of the state’s announced plans. “Governor DeSantis and Surgeon General Ladapo’s reckless decision to end vaccine mandates is not leadership — it’s a public health disaster in the making,” she said in a statement, adding that it will also put seniors and other vulnerable Floridians at risk.
“Vaccines are one of the most effective tools we have to protect lives,” the Democratic lawmaker said. “To toss aside decades of proven science for political gain is dangerous, short-sighted, and will cost lives.” The Florida Democratic Party similarly denounced the DeSantis administration’s plan as a “morally bankrupt play.”
According to the World Health Organization, global immunization efforts have saved 154 million lives over the last 50 years, with the vast majority of those being infants.
Ladapo, a well-known skeptic of COVID-19 vaccines, didn’t provide a timeline for the proposed rollback of the state’s vaccine requirements, but rather said that the state health department would be working with state lawmakers to move the idea forward.
There are four types of vaccines specifically required by state health department policy, not law, according to the Tampa Bay Times, so mandates for those could be on the chopping block first. That includes vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae Type B (aka Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate.
A spokesperson for the Florida DOH told the Times that they “will move to remove” those four vaccines from state requirements, which could take around 80 days once the process is started. They also reportedly plan to expand vaccine exemptions.
Clinton McCracken, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association (a local affiliate of the statewide teachers union), said his union will continue to stand up for the health and safety of teachers and students moving forward, regardless of what happens next with vaccination requirements.
“We believe our schools must be safe, welcoming spaces where students can learn and teachers can teach without unnecessary disruption,” McCracken told Orlando Weekly in a statement. Efforts to undermine vaccines, he added, “ignore the overwhelming consensus of the medical community and put politics ahead of student well-being. Orange CTA will continue to stand up for students, educators, and families in the fight to protect both health and learning.”
The Orange County public school district is one of the largest in the nation, although enrollment has reportedly taken a nose-dive so far this school year amid aggressive immigration enforcement efforts by the Trump administration and the state’s expansion of a controversial voucher program that allows Florida students to attend largely-unregulated private schools instead (or be home-schooled) on the taxpayers’ dime.
Florida’s average teacher pay, meanwhile, ranks near dead-last in the nation, while student absenteeism has only grown worse since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this year. And on school safety, there remain other areas for growth.
The Florida Department of Education, for instance, lacks uniform guidelines on classroom temperatures, placing kids at greater risk for heat exhaustion when air-conditioning systems go out. And public employees such as teachers, left uncovered by worker protections under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, additionally still lack a guaranteed right to safety on the job — a glaring deficiency that state leaders have for decades ignored.
While 26 states in the U.S. have state Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans that extend safety protections to workplaces of local and state government employees, Florida is one of at least 23 states that does not.
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This article appears in Sept. 3-9, 2025.