Soon it will cease to be vaccinated in Florida, including with vaccines that historically children have put themselves to attend school, such as those that protect against measles, papers or hepatitis B. This was announced on Wednesday the head of the state’s health, Joseph Ladapo, at a press conference in Tampa, where he compared these rules with the “slavery”.
Ladapo, an American-Nigerian doctor designated by Desantis in 2021, has been widely criticized by their, such as the use of masks during the pandemic of the coronavirus and the vaccines against the COVID. It also allowed that during a measles outbreak last year, children without vaccinating go to school, contradicting the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States. In 2023, his comments about vaccines earned him a reprimand of the CDC.
For decades, vaccines have saved millions of lives according to the World Health Organization. CDC estimate that children’s vaccines prevent about 20 million cases and tens of thousands of deaths annually in the country. In Florida, diseases such as measles, paper and rubella have been eradicated since he began to vaccinate MMR in the seventies. Chronic hepatitis B infections have been reduced by 90% since this vaccine began to be applied in the nineties. Polyomyelitis, whose epidemics caused hundreds of paralysis in the fifties, has been eradicated for decades, among other examples. Experts agree that vaccines are more effective when applied massively.
The American Pediatrics Academy, a professional organization of doctors and children’s health specialists, recommends that all children receive basic vaccines and updates according to age to prevent serious or potentially mortal diseases. Among the children’s routine vaccines are MMR, against chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus and whore, polio and hepatitis, among others. They also recommend vaccines for teenagers.
The Florida authorities had so far questioned vaccines against viruses such as COVID or influenza, in line with skepticism expressed by President Donald Trump, who to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy has promoted radical changes in HHS, fired thousands of employees, and dismissed to the leaders of the CDC – in part by disagreements about changes in vaccination policies. Other CDC bosses have resigned in protest, including Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of immunization and respiratory diseases, who at his exit said that there is a risk of “undoing the advances of vaccination” achieved in decades. In June, the HHS dismissed the 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent body that makes recommendations on vaccine guidelines, which had been appointed during the Biden government, and designated some new ones, including some about vaccines. CDC have removed information from their website about vaccines.
The governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, has opposed the federal government measures on the Covid vaccine, particularly the imposition of vaccinating for certain workers, defending “personal freedom” in such decisions. It is a position that has also adopted the majority of the base of the Republican Party, which has been opposed to the obligation of vaccines and other restrictions, and the emphasis has been in personal freedom and against the interference of the government.
The elimination of vaccines mandates in Florida can now be seen as another alignment with the agenda of a party wing that can collide with more traditional sectors. Critics rushed to point out that the conservative narrative of individual freedom on public health measures contradicts scientific evidence. “The next governor may say goodbye to this guy,” the Democrat David Jolly tweeted, who prepares to go against Desantis for Florida’s governorship in 2026.
The Florida Health Department did not immediately respond to a comment application. Governor Ron Desantis’s office did not respond either.
