Florida Moves to Scrap All Childhood Vaccine Mandates, Critics Warn of Health Crisis

Florida is set to become the first state in the nation to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates, a move sparking sharp criticism from leading medical groups and public health experts. Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a longtime vaccine skeptic, compared mandates to slavery and vowed to repeal them with legislative support. The plan would remove requirements for vaccines like polio, measles, and mumps, prompting warnings from the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics that such a rollback could endanger children, weaken decades of disease prevention, and lead to serious illness or death. Meanwhile, Democratic-led California, Oregon, and Washington have formed a vaccine alliance to protect access, as critics accuse Florida of pandering to the anti-vaccine movement.