In a move that could shake up public health policy, Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, announced that the state will end all vaccine mandates for children. He went as far as to liken them to “slavery”. This news comes from a speech Ladapo gave in Tampa, where he was hand-picked for his role by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
Speaking at a press conference hosted by DeSantis, Ladapo stated that every last one of the state’s vaccine requirements would be repealed, a move he believes will receive “the blessing of God”. According to Ladapo, “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery”. According to The Guardian, he went on to say that people have the right to make their own decisions about what they put into their bodies, calling the body “a gift from God” and that “what you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God”.
Ladapo’s stance on vaccines is nothing new. He’s known for being a strong opponent of lockdowns and vaccination requirements that were put in place during the coronavirus pandemic, calling that period a time “when crazy things did happen”. He believes that growing skepticism of vaccines is a reflection of “God’s light against the darkness of tyranny and oppression”.
Florida’s surgeon general wants nothing to do with vaccines
The current rules in Florida are pretty strict. According to the state’s Department of Health website, no child can be enrolled in a public school without having a series of required immunizations for diseases like measles, mumps, chicken pox, polio, and hepatitis. This new policy would completely change that.
While Ladapo didn’t provide any specific details or a timeline for the repeal, he did say that his department will work with lawmakers and the DeSantis administration to get it done. He also said that he believes it would be “wonderful for Florida to be the first state to do it”. According to Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, who specializes in vaccine law and policy, Florida would be the first state in recent times to abolish school vaccine mandates.
Florida's top health official Dr Joseph Ladapo says mRNA Covid vaccines should not be used in any human beings.
— Neil Stone (@DrNeilStone) August 23, 2025
Which is a strange thing to say considering they saved millions of lives. pic.twitter.com/soi9y4E9Ng
Still, Reiss said, “I would also add that one reason all states adopted them is that evidence showed school mandates reduce and prevent outbreaks. If Florida does this, it’s creating an unfortunate natural experiment with its children as guinea pigs. Children deserve better.”
This is awful for anyone who believes in the importance of public health measures, especially since routine childhood vaccinations have had such a massive positive impact. A federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, published last year, estimated that routine childhood vaccinations have prevented about 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1.13 million deaths among children born in the US between 1994 and 2023.
The same report also estimated that the national vaccine program has resulted in direct savings of $540 billion and societal savings of $2.7 trillion. So, while Ladapo is all for this, it feels like night and day when you look at the potential consequences versus the benefits of the current system.
