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Florida to End All Vaccine Mandates
The announcement was made by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo on Sept. 3.
Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced on Sept. 3 that he was working to eliminate all vaccine mandates from state law.
“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law,” he said at a press conference. “All of them.”
“Every last one is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said.
“Who am I, as a government, or anyone else, or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?
“I don’t have that right. Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your Body and your God.”
The surgeon general reiterated that neither he nor the government had the right to force vaccines upon people and urged those listening to take that power away from the government and make their own informed decisions.
He then said that the Florida Department of Health was able to start the process by striking down rules established by his predecessors that mandated several vaccines, and then his department would work with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s lawmakers to eliminate the rest of the mandates.
“We need to end it,” he said. ”It’s the right thing to do, and it'll be wonderful for Florida to be the first state to do it.”
One form of those mandates is vaccine requirements for students to attend school. Such requirements currently stand in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Of that total, 29 states and the District of Columbia only allow exemptions for those who claim religious objections, while 14 other states allow exemptions for either religious or personal/philosophical objections. Louisiana and Minnesota do not specify if a person’s non-medical exemption has to be for religious or personal reasons.
All 50 states allow medical exemptions. Five states do not allow for any non-medical exemption.
According to the Florida Department of Health’s website, several immunization requirements are in place as of Sept. 3.
By the time a child is ready for daycare or preschool, for example, he or she is required to be vaccinated for Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), Varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV15/20), and Hepatitis B (Hep B).
For children attending any grade from kindergarten through 12th grade, he or she needs to have four or five doses of DTaP, four or five doses of IPV, two doses of MMR, three doses of Hep B, one Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap), and two doses of Varicella (unless a history of varicella disease is documented).
Ladapo did not offer further details on how he would go about eliminating the vaccine mandates.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has stated its opposition to the move over concerns that it would put the state’s public school children at higher risk for getting sick and further affect the community.
“The AAP believes every family should have access to immunizations to keep their community healthy,” the organization said in a statement.
“Schools are an important part of that community, but close contact with other kids makes it easy for contagious diseases to spread quickly. That’s why most schools require routine childhood immunizations.
“When everyone in a school is vaccinated, it’s harder for diseases to spread.”
Ladapo made his announcement as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the creation of the state’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission and Medical Freedom Protections.
The commission will be chaired by his wife, Casey DeSantis.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/florida-to-end-all-vaccine-mandates-5909781