Florida vaccine meeting highlights coming mandate fight

Read the full story at Politico

By: Lauren Gardner

Florida’s Department of Health heard testimony over two hours regarding its proposal to remove four vaccines from the list of those generally required for school and day care enrollment.

A public meeting Friday on a proposal to further relax certain vaccine mandates in Florida underscored the coming fight over the policy pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his top health adviser.

Florida’s Department of Health heard over two hours of testimony in a Panama City Beach hotel conference room — a two-plus hour drive from the state Capitol in Tallahassee — regarding its proposal to remove four vaccines from the list of those generally required for school and day care enrollment. Vaccines that would be affected include those targeting chickenpox, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b, known as Hib; a fourth covering pneumococcal disease would specifically be stricken from day care entry mandates.