TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is moving toward dropping four vaccines from requirements for children entering schools and child care facilities, advancing a nearly year-old push by state leaders to roll back vaccine mandates.
The proposed Florida Department of Health rule would remove requirements for vaccines against hepatitis B, varicella, better known as chickenpox, Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, and pneumococcal disease.
The proposal was published Aug. 24 and remains open for public comment through Sept. 14. That means the changes to Florida school vaccine requirements are not yet in effect.
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo approved the proposed change on Aug. 20, according to reporting from the News Service of Florida.
The move follows comments Ladapo made alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis in Hillsborough County in September 2025, when he argued that decisions over vaccinations should rest with individuals and parents.
“Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right,” Ladapo said at the time. “Your body is a gift from God.”
Which Florida vaccine requirements could disappear?
The four vaccines targeted by the proposed rule are currently among the immunizations required for different groups of children entering Florida schools, preschools and child care facilities.
The Florida Department of Health’s current childhood immunization requirements list hepatitis B and varicella among requirements for K-12 students. Hib and pneumococcal vaccines are required for younger children in child care and preschool settings.
If the proposal is finalized, those four immunizations would no longer be mandatory under the Department of Health rule.
Requirements for several other vaccines would remain.
Florida law separately requires immunization against diseases including polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella, pertussis, mumps and tetanus, while allowing the Department of Health to set additional requirements through agency rules.
That distinction matters because the four vaccines now targeted for removal were imposed through agency rules, giving the health department authority to repeal them without convincing lawmakers to pass a new statute.
DeSantis and Ladapo previously called on the Florida Legislature to eliminate all school vaccine mandates, but lawmakers did not approve legislation removing the vaccine requirements written directly into state law during the 2026 sessions.
Florida also wants to broaden vaccine exemptions
The proposal goes beyond removing four required vaccines.
Florida’s official rulemaking notice says the state also wants to change its religious exemption form to include “moral and ethical beliefs.”
Current Florida policy allows a religious exemption when immunization conflicts with the religious beliefs and practices of a child’s parent or guardian.
The proposed changes would broaden that language and also allow parents and college students to opt out of having their records included in Florida SHOTS, the state’s immunization database.
The debate reflects a larger argument Florida officials have increasingly framed around parental rights and medical freedom.
At a Department of Health meeting in Panama City in December, an agency official described the proposed policy as being based on considerations favoring “parental rights and medical freedom,” according to the News Service of Florida report.
Pediatricians warn the change could affect more than schools
Pediatric groups are pushing in the opposite direction.
Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, warned after Florida leaders announced their broader effort to eliminate vaccine mandates that removing school-entry requirements could increase the risk of illness.
“The AAP believes every family should have access to immunizations to keep their community healthy,” Kressly said. She noted that schools put children in close contact with one another, making it easier for contagious illnesses to spread.
The Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has also been urging Floridians to speak out about the proposed removal of the hepatitis B, chickenpox, Hib and pneumococcal requirements.
The organization says loosening school vaccine requirements could have consequences beyond families who choose not to vaccinate, particularly for infants, older adults and people with compromised immune systems.
The state’s existing rules already provide avenues for exemptions, a point raised by some Florida doctors who argue that parents who object to vaccination already have a way to opt their children out.
“You’re not forced,” Panama City pediatrician Dr. Eehab Kenawy said during the earlier public debate. “But sending a message to the general public that vaccines are not important, vaccines are not needed, is not the way to do it.”
What happens next?
For now, Florida parents do not need to change anything based on the proposal.
The current Florida school vaccine requirements remain in place while the rule goes through the state rulemaking process.
The public-comment window runs through Sept. 14, 2026, according to the Florida Administrative Register.
After that process, the Department of Health can move toward formally adopting the rule. Because the surgeon general serves as head of the department and the four vaccines at issue are governed by agency rule rather than requirements directly written into state law, the proposal does not need a new vote from the Legislature to move forward.
If adopted, the change would mark another major shift in Florida’s approach to childhood vaccination — and leave parents, pediatricians and schools preparing for a new set of rules about which shots children need before entering the classroom.
