VALRICO, Fla. -- When Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced that he is pushing for an end to all vaccine mandates in the Sunshine State, he received a standing ovation Wednesday in Valrico.
The reality of actually ending vaccine mandates for children in Florida schools, though, is a complicated endeavor that would require the Florida Legislature to change the law.
Building up to his announcement, Ladapo's speech Wednesday painted vaccine mandates -- specifically those put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic -- as a "darkness of tyranny and oppression, which is, unfortunately, ever present in this world and in this country."
Calling those who resisted mask and vaccine mandates during the pandemic a "reflection of God's light," Florida's surgeon general said he would be working with Gov. Ron DeSantis to "end all vaccine mandates in Florida law."
"Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery," Ladapo said of the mandates.
Currently, Florida statutes specifically list seven diseases that students must be vaccinated for before they can enroll in public or private schools: poliomyelitis (polio), diphtheria, rubeola (measles), rubella, pertussis (whooping cough), mumps, tetanus.
The Florida Legislature would have to change state law to end those mandates.
There are a handful of vaccinations that were, until recently, required by the Florida Department of Health -- including chickenpox, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine -- but Ladapo said Wednesday he was ending those requirements.
"Here's what we can do in the Florida Department of Health -- we actually have the ability to start that process, with what government folks call rules," he said, making quotation marks with his fingers. "So, the Florida Department of Health, we have some rules that we promulgated -- not me, predecessors -- that include, you know, a handful, maybe half a dozen vaccines that are mandated in Florida. So those are going to be gone, for sure."
He said the Florida Department of Health would be working with DeSantis and the Legislature "to get rid of the rest of it."
Ladapo made an impassioned argument Wednesday that the government was overstepping by telling people what to put in their bodies, and the bodies of their children.
"Who am I, as a government, or anyone else -- who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in your body?" Ladapo said. "I don't have that right. Your body is a gift from God ... what you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God."
"I do not have that right," he added. "Government does not have that right."
Ladapo's announcement Wednesday was only a push to end vaccine mandates, not a call to ban childhood vaccinations altogether.
Following Wednesday's announcement, the American Academy of Pediatrics criticized the plan in a social media post, saying: "We are concerned that today's announcement will put children in Florida public schools at higher risk for getting sick, and have ripple effects across their community."
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, was also quick to push back on plans to end vaccine mandates in Florida, saying in a post on X:
"Ending vaccine mandates is reckless and dangerous. It will drive down immunization rates & open the door to outbreaks of preventable diseases, putting children, seniors, and vulnerable Floridians at risk. This is a public health disaster in the making for the Sunshine State."
Likewise, Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones did not mince words in his reaction to Ladapo's announcement.
"The decision by the (Florida surgeon general) to eliminate all vaccine mandates in Florida is a reckless and irresponsible action that undermines public health standards," Jones said in a post on X. "Leadership in this role should be grounded in science and the protection of Floridians, not political calculation."
Sumter County Superintendent of Schools Logan W. Brown, though, vigorously endorsed the plan to eliminate vaccine mandates in Florida.
"Ending vaccine mandates for school attendance is a major step in restoring personal liberty and respecting the values of everyday Floridians," he said in a statement to Spectrum News. "For too long, bureaucratic mandates have chipped away at parental rights under the guise of public health. But here in Florida, we are fortunate to have a Governor who has consistently stood firm in defense of individual freedom and medical autonomy -- especially when it comes to our children."
Florida Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith was more succinct in his take on Ladapo's announcement.
"Today is a great day for chickenpox, measles, and polio in Florida," he said in a post on X.
If Florida follows through and ends all vaccine mandates, it would be the first state to do so.