Florida aims to be the first U.S. state to cancel all its vaccine missions, many of which require children to sting diseases such as polio in order to go to public schools.
Joseph Ladapo, the state’s top health official, likened the mission to “slavery” and announced plans Wednesday.
“Who am I telling you what your child should put inside you?” he said. “I didn’t have that. Your body is a gift from God.”
Florida officials did not provide timetables or details about the termination of the task. Only Republican-led state legislatures can vote to repeal some, while others can be scrapped by the state Department of Health.
However, Ladabo promised several times in the press conference to end “everyone, everyone’s last one”.
Surgeons are often criticized by doctors and health organizations, who say he has spread misinformation about the vaccine, and his boss, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is a Republican who pushes for a Covid-19 vaccine requirement.
Democratic MP Anna Eskamani criticized the plan to terminate all mandates and dismissed them as “reckless and dangerous”.
She posted on X: “This is a public health disaster in the state of sunshine.”
While every state requires children to be vaccinated before attending public schools, each state has different policies on authorization exemptions. Idaho is another Republican-dominated country that relaxed many rules on vaccines earlier this year, but still required children to be immune.
In Florida, a variety of diseases must be vaccinated, including chicken pox, hepatitis B, measles, mumps and polio.
According to the World Health Organization, vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives (mainly babies) over the past 50 years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that approximately 4 million deaths are prevented worldwide each year through childhood vaccines.
On Wednesday, a group of Democratic-led states announced that they formed a coalition to coordinate health matters including immunizations to oppose changes to the Trump administration’s public health program and guidance.
Governors in Washington, Oregon and California said they would use guidance from national medical organizations, many of which rejected changes in the Trump administration’s childhood vaccination and were less dependent on federal advice.
They said in a joint press release that Trump is “dismantling” the CDC and blowing up the recent decision of U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr. — a well-known vaccine skeptic — to remove experts from the CDC’s vaccine advisory group.
Health & Wellness Contributor
A wellness enthusiast and certified nutrition advisor, Meera covers everything from healthy living tips to medical breakthroughs. Her articles aim to inform and inspire readers to live better every day.
