https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/us/politics/ron-desantis-gop-florida-vaccines.html?unlocked_article_code=1.elA.jfcW.WToBNZNTVXq5&smid=url-share

The speaker of the Florida State House, father of three young children, said outright that he was concerned about "children being in school without measles and mumps and polio and chickenpox vaccines that have been working for decades." The State Senate also tabled it as well.

DeSantis's bill would have allowed families to seek exemptions from vaccine requirements based on personal beliefs, promoting "medical freedom" like mask bans. The bill would've removed the mandate for measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis (whooping cough), diphtheria, and polio vaccination.

But the war is not yet won. The Florida Surgeon General is still working to repeal the vaccine mandates it oversees: varicella (chickenpox); hepatitis B; pneumococcal bacteria; and Haemophilus influenzae type B.