Just weeks into the new school year, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his right-hand anti-Woke doc, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, are taking aim at something else that has kept Florida kids healthy for decades: vaccines.
At a press conference Wednesday, Ladapo said the state is going to eliminate every last vaccine mandate, because forcing kids to get shots to go to school is “wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” Yes, he really said vaccines were like slavery.
But he offered zero details about how this would actually work. Right now, all 50 states and D.C. require certain vaccines for students to attend school. We’re talking the basics: polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B. Stuff that stopped wiping out kids a generation ago thanks to public health, not thoughts and prayers.
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Florida would be the first state to toss those requirements out the window.
Doctors and public health experts are calling it exactly what it is: reckless. Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said vaccines are especially important in schools because, let’s face it, they are like petri dishes. Smart parents take precautions at home when it’s back-to-school time so they don’t get sick, too.
South Florida has already seen declining vaccination rates. Miami-Dade’s kindergarten immunizations have slipped almost 3% since 2019. Broward dropped by 10%. In 2024, there was a measles outbreak in Weston that infected seven kids at Manatee Bay Elementary. This year, the CDC has logged more than 1,400 measles cases nationwide, including six in Florida.
Miami-Dade School Board Member Luisa Santos told Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera on Actualidad Thursday morning (and it’s so nice to have him back, even temporarily) that there are already exemptions for religious and medical reasons. Nobody really asks any questions, though. And there has been a sharp increase — from 3,700 in the 2019-20 school year to 7,200 last school year. Statewide, Florida had 10,556 non-medical exemptions in the 2024–25 school year, the second-highest total after Texas, according to the Center for Disease Control.
“So it is something this community for different reasons is already saying, ‘I’m going to take this exemption,’” Santos said. “But that puts the whole community at risk.” Particularly immunocompromised children, teachers and staff.
But not yet. Santos explained that students are still required to be vaccinated to be in public schools this year. DeSantis and Lapado can get good press for their red meat base from this, but the state lawmakers would have to make that change for next year. That’s almost a sure bet though, since the Republican-led legislature has been sharpening their anti-woke talking points.
Mirroring the national debate, local parents and leaders are mixed on the topic. Some anti-vaxxers and GOP champions are cheering the move.
“Florida continues to lead the way on medical freedom,” posted Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who has been trying to grow his political profile since he led the county’s drive against fluoride. “Proud to stand with the MAHA commission in protecting every Floridian’s right to make their own health decisions free from mandates and government overreach.”
Others worry that there could be outbreaks.
“Are we losing our minds? This is getting ridiculous and pathetic,” Congresswoman Frederica Wilson posted on X.“Are we trying to kill millions of innocent children? Childhood vaccines save lives. Abolishing them is INSANITY. 
“As a former teacher and principal, I know how vital childhood vaccinations are. Ending vaccine mandates puts the whole community at risk of preventable diseases. Decades of research show the effectiveness of vaccines, and we cannot just disregard the health of our children,” Wilson said. “Joseph Ladapo’s tenure as Florida’s Surgeon General has been marred by misinformation and harmful narratives. Enough is enough — Governor DeSantis must fire him, or Joseph Ladapo must resign before more harm is done.”
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith kept it short: “Today is a great day for chickenpox, measles, and polio in Florida.”
Miami-Dade School Board Member Steve Gallon III seemed offended by the slavery comment. “The comparison of vaccinations to the horrors of slavery is incredible,” he posted.
‘This is devastating news,” Jill Roberts, associate professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, told Axios Tampa Bay. “You’re going to leave kids susceptible to diseases that are deadly and have lifelong consequences.”
Even Republican Sen. Rick Scott was scratching his bald head and told Marc Caputo, “Florida already has a good system that allows families to opt out based on religious and personal beliefs, which balances our children’s health and parents’ rights.”
United Teachers of Dade, the local labor union for teachers in the county’s public school system, issued a statement calling the plan “deeply concerning,” because it could expose vulnerable children to preventable disease. “From our standpoint, for decades, school vaccinations and requirements have played a role in keeping classrooms healthy,” said UTD spokesman Ricky Junquera, who was also a political advisor for former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in her 2024 race for Senate.
Osmani Gonzalez, president of the Miami-Dade County Council of PTAs, was far darker: “This is the type of policy that creates the possibility of preventable tragedies and the unnecessary loss of children’s lives within our schools,” he told The Miami Herald.
And Ladra can’t help asking the obvious: Why are we pretending polio and measles are woke?
Because that’s what this is really about. Not health. Not kids. Not science. It’s about the next culture war headline for a governor desperate to keep his name in lights — even if it means Florida becomes the testing ground for preventable epidemics.
The post Ron DeSantis wants to make Florida the first state to scrap vaccine mandates appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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