Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has announced that the state will no longer mandate vaccines.
Ladapo made the announcement Wednesday by saying, “All of them. All of them. Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.”
The crowd applauded when he made the announcement, NBC Newsreported.
He added the Florida Department of Health will work in with the Gov. Ron DeSantis on the new rule.
Ladapo called vaccine mandates “wrong” and “immoral.”
“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? Lapado said. “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in [their] body? I don’t have that right.”
The state is not banning vaccines outright.
“You want to put whatever different vaccines in your body, God bless you. I hope you make an informed decision,” Ladapo said. “You don’t want to put whatever vaccines in your body, God bless you. I hope you make an informed decision. That’s how it should be.”
Dr. Robert Malone, whom Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently appointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent vaccine advisory committee, wrote on X and lauded Ladapo’s action.
“I spoke with Dr. Ladapo yesterday -he is a measured scientist – who is on fire to change the system for the better!” he wrote.
Florida currently requires vaccinations for students going to public school.
“The idea that children would be allowed to go to school unvaccinated is absolutely frightening,” said Dr. Richard Besser, a former acting director Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Ladapo’s announcement came as Ron DeSantis revealed the Florida Make America Healthy Again commission. This will recommend state-level integration of President Donald Trump and Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again effort.
Florida’s first lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins will be the chairpersons for the commission.
“The Florida MAHA commission will prioritize reforms that empower Floridians, reduce regulatory burdens and hold actors accountable for their conduct, while fostering incentives for healthy living and innovation,” the governor said.
