Key Takeaway:
- Florida proposes dropping four Florida vaccine requirements covering chickenpox, hepatitis B, Hib, and pneumococcal disease.
- The move follows Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s broader push to eliminate vaccine mandates in the state.
- The proposal raises public health concerns as Florida faces debate over vaccination rates and measles protection.
Florida is advancing a plan to remove four childhood vaccine requirements for public school attendance, allowing unvaccinated children to attend without shots for chickenpox, hepatitis B, Hib and pneumococcal disease.
State Targets Four Vaccine Requirements
The Florida Department of Health published a proposed rule Aug. 24 that would eliminate the four requirements from school-entry rules. The move follows a broader effort by Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to roll back Florida vaccine requirements across the state.
Florida currently requires kindergarten-through-12th-grade students to document vaccinations against diseases including hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis and chickenpox. The state also permits certain medical and religious exemptions.
The proposed change would affect vaccines that the Health Department says are not required directly under state law, according to NOTUS. Requirements established in state statutes would require legislative action to change, meaning some Florida vaccine requirements would remain in place.
Ladapo Pushes Broader Rollback
The proposal follows Ladapo’s September 2025 announcement that Florida would seek to end vaccine mandates. At the time, he said the state Department of Health, working with Gov. Ron DeSantis, would seek to end “all vaccine mandates in Florida law.”
Ladapo also said at the 2025 announcement that mandates were “wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” according to a transcript of his remarks.
Florida’s Health Department continues to list Florida vaccine requirements, school immunization requirements, and exemptions on its website. Its current guidance says public and private schools must maintain immunization documentation, while state law provides for certain exemptions.
Debate Intensifies Over Measles Protection
The proposal comes as vaccine coverage remains a political issue in Florida. Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, the party’s nominee for governor, was asked Aug. 23 whether he would tell Florida parents to vaccinate their children against measles.
“No,” Donalds said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” attributing measles outbreaks in parts of the country to what he called “rampant illegal immigration” under the previous administration. CBS host Margaret Brennan challenged him on the evidence for that claim.
Donalds is running to succeed DeSantis, who is barred from seeking another consecutive term as governor. The debate over Florida vaccine requirements is therefore unfolding alongside the state’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign.
Florida’s current immunization guidance says children entering kindergarten through 12th grade must document several routine vaccinations, including measles, mumps and rubella, polio, hepatitis B and varicella.
The proposed rule does not eliminate every school vaccine requirement. Florida’s Health Department continues to identify vaccination documentation as part of school enrollment requirements, while state law still governs several vaccines.
The rule represents the latest step in Florida’s broader effort to loosen childhood vaccination requirements and could further reshape Florida vaccine requirements for students in public schools.
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