Opinion: Broader Vaccine Exemptions Put Kids Like Mine In Danger

Read the full article at Florida Daily

By: Tim Heberlein

As Florida prepares for a special legislative session in the coming weeks, families like mine are watching with deep concern. Lawmakers are now being asked to revisit proposals that would expand nonmedical exemptions from school vaccine requirements. For families like ours, this debate is not abstract or political. It is deeply personal and potentially life‑threatening.

My young son, Remy, is a leukemia survivor. Diagnosed when he was 2 years old, chemotherapy weakened his immune system, which means routine infections can become serious very quickly. Community immunity is not simply a public health concept to our family. It is the protection that allows our child to attend school, be around other people, and experience some measure of normal childhood.

During the most intense phase of Remy’s treatment, that reality became unavoidable. We lived in near isolation. We limited contact with others, relied on grocery delivery, disinfected packages and gifts, and avoided gatherings with friends and extended family. Infection would not have been a minor setback. It could have been devastating. When your child is immunocompromised, every outing becomes a risk calculation, and every layer of protection matters.