Have the Florida DOH vaccine mandates been put in place?
Executive summary
Florida’s Department of Health has not broadly abolished school vaccine mandates; instead, it has proposed and moved to remove requirements for a limited set of vaccines (hepatitis B, chickenpox/varicella, Hib and pneumococcal) while the statutory mandates for core vaccines such as MMR, DTaP and polio remain in place unless the Legislature acts to change the law [1] [2] [3]. Implementation is in flux: DOH rule changes and public workshops have been held, but many changes either require a 90‑day waiting period, final rulemaking or legislative action before becoming law [4] [5] [3].
1. What the Florida DOH announced and why it matters
In September 2025, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and the governor’s office announced an intention to end vaccine mandates in Florida, and the DOH subsequently proposed eliminating school entry requirements for hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine—moves the department framed as restoring parental choice and aligning rules with their policy priorities [4] [1] [6]. Public health authorities and physicians warned that rolling back these requirements could reduce protections that have historically limited outbreaks of vaccine‑preventable diseases [5] [3].
2. What mandates remain on the books now
Statutory requirements for the central childhood vaccines—measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis (DTaP or Tdap where applicable) and polio—remain mandatory under existing Florida law unless and until the Legislature amends statutes to remove them; DOH cannot unilaterally erase those statutory mandates through rule changes alone [2] [7]. Reporting indicates DOH officials have acknowledged that vaccines tied to statute will stay required “unless updated through legislation,” undercutting claims that all mandates have already been wiped out [4].
3. Steps taken toward removing certain requirements and limits on immediate effect
The DOH has held public workshops and at least one contested hearing on proposed rule changes to remove the listed vaccines from school‑entry requirements, and agency staff have said the changes would not take effect immediately—often noting a probable 90‑day window and additional procedural steps before rules would be final [5] [4] [1]. Independent reporting and medical journals noted a December timeframe for ending mandates for the specific vaccines named by DOH, but also stressed that other vaccines would still require legislative approval to be removed [3] [4].
4. Political forces, motivations and resistance
The push to rescind mandates is driven by political leadership—Governor Ron DeSantis and Surgeon General Ladapo—who have framed the effort as restoring parental rights and opposing government compulsion, while critics including physicians, public‑health experts and some lawmakers cast the move as politically motivated and dangerous for community immunity; professional objections and reports of doctors’ resistance were documented in medical and mainstream outlets [6] [3] [5]. The Legislature has not uniformly embraced wholesale repeal: bills floated in 2025 and 2026 contained varying language and many proposals that would alter statutory mandates stalled or were pared back [8] [9] [2].
5. Bottom line — where things stand now
As of the available reporting through late 2025 and early 2026, Florida has not implemented a blanket removal of vaccine mandates; DOH has proposed and moved to remove only a subset of school vaccine requirements via rulemaking and public workshops, while the legally mandated vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis and polio remain in force absent legislative change [1] [2] [4]. Final outcomes depend on formal rule adoption timelines, any legislative action in upcoming sessions, and potential legal or administrative challenges; reporting does not show a completed, statewide abolition of school vaccine mandates [3] [5].