— Florida announced plans to eliminate all vaccine mandates, including requirements for children to be vaccinated to attend school. Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo and Governor Ron DeSantis made the announcement in Valrico, Fla., saying the state will remove existing departmental rules and seek broader policy changes even as public health experts warn such a move risks renewed outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Key Takeaways
- Florida plans to end state vaccine mandate rules for schoolchildren and other settings, announced Sept. 3, 2025.
- Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis led the announcement in Valrico, Fla.
- The administration intends to rescind agency rules and align policy with a commission chaired by Casey DeSantis.
- Public health officials, including Sen. Bill Cassidy, warn the move could prompt outbreaks of measles and other illnesses.
- Florida previously banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine passports for students and businesses.
- State law currently authorizes required immunizations for school entry; legislative action may be needed to finalize changes.
- Past actions by Dr. Ladapo include permitting unvaccinated children to attend school during a 2024 measles outbreak in Weston, Fla.
Verified Facts
On Sept. 3, 2025, officials said the Florida Department of Health will remove rules that enforce vaccine mandates. The announcement was made publicly by Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, the state surgeon general appointed in 2021, and Governor Ron DeSantis at an event in Valrico, near Tampa.
Florida has long required children entering public schools to receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella, varicella (chickenpox), and hepatitis B. All 50 U.S. states maintain some form of school-entry immunization requirements, though the specifics and allowable exemptions (medical, religious, personal) vary by state.
The state previously enacted measures that ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students and restrict vaccine passport systems. Officials said the new effort aims to remove remaining statutory or administrative requirements across settings, but they acknowledged that statutory authority for school immunization standards rests with the state legislature.
Dr. Ladapo has drawn criticism from public health experts for prior departures from mainstream guidance. Public records note the state allowed unvaccinated children to attend school during a 2024 measles outbreak in Weston, Fla., and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publicly disputed statements he made about COVID-19 vaccines in 2023.
Context & Impact
Public-health specialists emphasize that school vaccine requirements have historically helped limit outbreaks of contagious diseases by keeping community immunity at protective levels. KFF and other research groups have documented declining immunization rates and growing numbers of exemptions in some areas, trends that officials say raise outbreak risk.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the U.S. Senate health committee, called Florida’s decision a serious public-health concern and warned of potential spread to vulnerable people, including immunocompromised patients and older adults.
Florida’s population includes a large share of retirees and older residents, a demographic that public-health experts say could face heightened risk if vaccine coverage falls. School-based transmission can extend into households and clinical settings, complicating care for those with weakened immune systems.
Legally, removing departmental rules does not automatically eliminate statutory school requirements. State lawmakers must typically vote to alter statutes that mandate immunizations; agency rule-making can change administrative requirements but may be constrained by existing law.
Official Statements
“Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? Your body is a gift from God,”
Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, Florida surgeon general (Sept. 3, 2025)
“We made sure people had access to schools,”
Gov. Ron DeSantis, announcing policy changes
Explainer
Unconfirmed
- The precise timeline and legal steps Florida will follow to remove each specific school immunization requirement have not been published by the Department of Health.
- It is not yet confirmed which statutory provisions, if any, the administration will seek to repeal versus rescind at the agency-rule level.
Bottom Line
Florida’s announcement signals a major policy shift that could make it the first U.S. state to eliminate broad vaccine mandates for schoolchildren; translating the pledge into permanent legal changes will likely require legislative action and could prompt legal and public-health challenges. Public-health leaders warn the change could raise the risk of outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases unless coverage and exemption patterns do not worsen.