Has Florida already lifted vaccine mandates? What are next steps? Here’s an FAQ
Florida wants to make vaccines optional for school — but the change won’t happen right away.
The state health department has the power to make some vaccines optional. For other vaccines, like those that protect against polio and measles, it’ll need the approval of the state legislature in order to do so.
When would those changes take effect? How would it work? And what shots will be affected?
Here’s what to know:
Which vaccines will be optional and when?
COVID-19 vaccines are already optional in Florida. Now, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the state’s top health official, and Gov. Ron DeSantis want to make all vaccines optional, including the vaccines that kids currently need to attend school. Doing that will depend, in part, on the state legislature, since some vaccine mandates are written into state law.
But there are four vaccines that kids need for school that the state health department does have control over:
- varicella, or chickenpox
- hepatitis B, a viral infection that can cause liver damage
- haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib. Hib infections include meningitis.
- pneumococcal conjugate, or PCV15/20. Pneumococcal disease is a bacterial infection that can cause many different illnesses, including pneumonia, blood infections, meningitis, and ear and sinus infections.
Those are the vaccines the state health department plans to make optional via a rule change, a process that can take around two to three months, as the Herald/Times has previously reported.
Florida’s Department of Health told the Associated Press that it initiated the rule change on Sept. 3 and “anticipates the rule change will not be effective for approximately 90 days.” That means the state could lift the mandate for the four vaccines listed above as soon as December.
What about polio, measles and other mandated vaccines?
Currently, Florida also requires kids to get vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps and rubella.
Those vaccines are part of state law. Children need those shots in order to attend daycare, preschool, and public, private and charter schools.
READ MORE: Florida pushes to end vaccine mandates. What doctors say parents should know
To remove the mandates for those vaccines in Florida, the state legislature would need to get involved. But, as of right now, it’s not clear if lawmakers will go along with the plan. Several key legislators have given statements that make it hard to know exactly where they stand on the issue, while others did not respond to Herald/Times reporters. The Florida Legislature doesn’t reconvene until early next year.
If lawmakers go along with the DeSantis administration’s plans, Florida would be the first state in the country to end school vaccine mandates.
When would Florida lawmakers decide on vaccines?
DeSantis has said that Ladapo will take the lead on a “big medical freedom package” that will be presented to lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state legislature.
Lawmakers won’t meet again until January, though committee meetings are set to begin in October.
It remains to be seen how lawmakers will vote. Some Florida GOP lawmakers don’t seem keen on making all vaccines optional. President Donald Trump, who lives at his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach mansion when he’s not at the White House, has also weighed in.
“I think we have to be very careful,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
“Look, you have some vaccines that are so amazing. The polio vaccine, I happen to think is amazing,” Trump continued. “A lot of people think that [the COVID vaccine] is amazing. You know, there are many people that believe strongly in that, but you have some vaccines that are so incredible. And I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don’t have to be vaccinated.”
Would Florida parents still be able to vaccinate their kids if vaccines become optional?
DeSantis and Ladapo have indicated that vaccines will still be available in Florida.
WEIGH IN: Would you still vaccinate your child?
Does Florida currently offer vaccine exemptions?
While Florida mandates certain vaccines for school, some kids can already avoid some, or all, of the required shots through religious and medical exemptions.
Katie Young, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health, told Herald/Times reporters that the department plans to expand an exemption that allows families to opt out of the shots based on their personally held beliefs.
This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 3:27 PM.
