MIAMI — Some teachers fear that Florida’s plan to get rid of childhood vaccine mandates will impact the safety of their classrooms and communities.
Antonio White, the president of United Teachers of Dade, said he has been getting their calls and e-mails asking for clarification since Wednesday, after Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced his efforts to end the mandates, which he views as a threat to personal liberty.
“Immunizations have been taking place in public schools for as long as public schools have existed,” White said on Thursday.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools released a statement saying the district was waiting for “official guidance” from the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Education.
On the FDOH immunization requirements for children in childcare, preschool, and K-12 schools, Ladapo said, “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said Florida already has a system for parents to opt out of childhood vaccine mandates because of “religious and personal beliefs,” according to a statement released by his office on Wednesday.
“Ending vaccine mandates puts the whole community at risk of preventable diseases,” U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a former teacher and principal, wrote in a statement calling for Ladapo’s resignation or for Gov. Ron DeSantis to fire him.
Marjorie Marc, a mother in South Florida, said DeSantis should treat childhood vaccine mandates as “something they need” and not as an option. The American Academy of Pediatrics also released a statement warning about the ripple effects.
“When children are sick and miss school, parents also miss work, which not only impacts those families, but also the local economy,” a spokesperson for AAOP wrote.
Dr. Aileen Martin is among the infectious disease experts who were also concerned. Vaccines have saved more human lives than any other medical invention, according to the World Health Organization.
“Vaccines are the most important public health measure that exists,” Martin, a professor at the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, said.
Ladapo’s announcement was before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified on Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee.
In June, Kennedy fired the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, the panel that guides decisions about vaccines that impact insurance coverage nationwide.
“This is not a podcast. It’s the American people’s health that’s on the line here,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D.-Colo., told Kennedy during a heated exchange. “This is the last thing, by the way, our parents need when their kids are going back to school is to have the kind of confusion and expense and scarcity that you are creating as the result of your ideology.”
Related story: Health Secretary Kennedy faces questions about vaccine policy shift during contentious Senate hearing
YOUR OPINION
The requirements in Florida as of Thursday:
- DTaP: 4 or 5 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis.
- IPV: 4 or 5 doses of inactivated polio vaccine.
- MMR: 2 doses of measles-mumps-rubella.
- Varicella (Chickenpox): 2 doses, unless the child has a documented history of the disease.
- Hep B: 3 doses of Hepatitis B.
- Hib: Haemophilus influenzae type b.
- PCV: Pneumococcal conjugate.
- Tdap: A dose of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis is required for 7th grade.
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Under my administration, Florida has become the leading state in the nation for medical freedom. Our health policies are guided by evidence, common sense, and respect for individual rights—not ideological agendas or special interests.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 3, 2025
With the establishment of the Florida MAHA… pic.twitter.com/yWxaMj7c1m
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