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Florida health officials on Thursday held a contentious three-hour hearing on the pros and cons of eliminating mandates for four vaccines currently required for children to attend K-12 public and private schools and daycares.
If the Florida Department of Health (DOH) adopts the rule change, children would no longer be required to receive the hepatitis B (Hep B), varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo told the crowd the proposed rule change was about parental rights, not science.
“This isn’t about the scientific effectiveness of one vaccine or the other, the safety of one vaccine or the other,” he told a crowd at the hearing.
It’s about the “right of a parent to make a decision about what’s best for their child. Period. It’s not complicated. It’s very simple in that respect.”
After the hearing, Ladapo wrote on X that the public needs “fewer mandates, more informed decision-making.”
Today’s public hearing was an important step toward increasing parents’ engagement in public health when it comes to vaccines. We need fewer mandates, more informed decision-making.
Thank you to everyone who participated and made their voice heard.
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) October 8, 2026
Mother shares how her newborn son was injured by Hep B vaccine
Dozens of parents, doctors and other medical professionals delivered public comments on the proposed rule change during the hearing, held at a hotel in Lake Mary.
Some expressed concern that fewer vaccine mandates would threaten the health of children who have cancer or are otherwise immunocompromised and unable to get vaccinated.
Dr. Brandon Chatani, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and vice president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said, “When immunization rates fall below the threshold needed for community immunity, the burden does not fall evenly.”
Others told stories of vaccine injury.
Susan Sweden said her son was injured as a newborn after receiving the Hep B vaccine. “He stopped breathing every hour on the hour for the first 24 hours of his life.”
Her son’s adverse reaction is documented in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), she said.
“My newborn wasn’t sexually active, wasn’t sharing needles, and as a mother, I wasn’t infected. Yet he was vaccinated without my fully informed consent,” she added.
Allison Uker, also the mother of a vaccine-injured child, thanked Ladapo for “being the light in the darkness of the captured medical system, for protecting children from medical harm and honoring true informed consent.”
The proposed rule change would align DOH’s administrative code with Florida state law so that both require the same shots for school and daycare attendance, according to a DOH press release.
DOH currently requires more shots than what Florida law prescribes. Florida law requires vaccination only for polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, and whooping cough.
The hearing, just one step in Florida’s rulemaking process, does not constitute final adoption of the rule, the DOH said.
As of press time, it is unclear when the agency will issue a final decision on the rule change.
Ladapo, DeSantis previously asked lawmakers to end mandates
In September 2025, Ladapo announced plans to eliminate all vaccine mandates in the state, including for children to attend school.
Although Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo asked the legislature to change state law to remove the vaccine mandates, “no legislator filed a bill in any of the legislative sessions in 2026,” CBS News reported.
Alexandra Hill, a Florida mother of five who volunteers with Children’s Health Defense’s Florida Chapter, told The Defender she still hopes Ladapo will work toward eliminating all vaccine mandates. “None of them should be mandated,” she said.
Hill said she’s witnessed first-hand numerous vaccine injuries among members of her family and extended family.
“I saw the damage in my daughter, who has thankfully recovered through multiple health remedies … so she is doing really well. But that is not the case for everyone who has a vaccine-injured child,” she added.
Ladapo’s office did not comment by the deadline.
Watch the hearing here:
Related articles in The Defender
- Florida to ‘End All Vaccine Mandates,’ State’s Surgeon General Announces
- Florida AG Sues Pfizer, Bourla Over Deceptive Marketing of COVID Vaccines
- ‘Cody’s Law’: Florida Lawmakers Weigh First State Law to Compensate Vaccine Injury Victims
