Florida to abolish all vaccine mandates, launch state MAHA commission

Florida will abolish all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren, Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced Sept. 3.

Speaking at a news conference, Ladapo compared vaccine mandates to slavery and pledged the Florida Department of Health will work with Gov. Ron DeSantis to end “every last one 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,” Ladapo continued, drawing applause from the crowd. “What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God. I don’t have that right. The government does not have that right.”

According to the state’s health department website, Florida currently requires numerous vaccines for children attending school, including polio, measles-mumps-rubella, and hepatitis B, although exemptions are permitted. 

At the same event, DeSantis also announced the creation of the Florida Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, which he said will prioritize “individual medical freedom, informed consent, parent rights, and also market innovation.”

The commission will also focus on “promoting clean, safe and nutritious food industry, improving transparency and accountability in health care, working on the causes of chronic diseases to identify and prevent future occurrences, and, maybe more importantly, restoring trust in the medical profession and in public health,” DeSantis said.

The governor said the panel will be chaired by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins. Ladapo, Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris, Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch, and other health experts will participate.