Floridians turn out to oppose changing school and daycare vaccine requirements

BIO voices concerns in statement for hearing about potential rule change.

Reducing the number of vaccines required for school children risks the spread of dangerous, preventable diseases, concerned Floridians and public health advocates told a Florida Department of Health (FDOH) panel hearing on Oct. 8.

The hearing allowed public input into FDOH’s proposed rule change to eliminate requirements for four of the current 11 vaccines students need to enter public schools and daycare.

The new rule would mean the hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines would no longer be required for students entering public school or child care programs, FDOH explains. Immunization for polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella, pertussis, mumps, and tetanus would still be required.

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) provided written comments to the hearing urging FDOH to maintain its current vaccine requirements.

“We are deeply concerned that the proposed changes, if enacted, will decrease immunization coverage in Florida and leave many vulnerable to preventable infectious diseases,” BIO wrote. “Vaccination requirements have been instrumental in reducing, and in some cases eliminating deadly diseases. Removing these requirements would reverse decades of scientific and public health progress without evidence-based justification.”

While the hearing featured many speakers against the proposal and many in favor of it, the overall majority of Floridians oppose the proposed rule and want to keep vaccine requirements as they are, according to a poll commissioned by Florida Families for Vaccines. Of the 1,000 likely voters polled by McLaughlin & Associates, 79%—including 71% of registered Republicans—support Florida’s long-standing school entry vaccine requirements.

What they said at the hearing

Speakers who urged against changing the vaccine schedule represented a wide range of viewpoints.

Evelyn, a 7-year-old cancer survivor, described the importance of her classmates being vaccinated.

“The chemo broke my immune system. I had to stay away from sick people because their germs could hurt me really bad. I was so happy to go back to school. I missed my friends,” Evelyn said. “Mommy and Daddy knew I would be safe because everybody got their vaccine shots when I couldn’t.”

Evelyn’s father, Kyle Huneycutt, said his daughter’s diagnosis changed how his family saw the world. “The health of the community around your child matters in a way you may have never considered before,” he explained.

The patient’s family view was also represented by Donielle Deitz, a caregiver and a volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), who urged maintaining “evidence-based school immunization requirements.”

“Childhood vaccines protect people with cancer,” she said, noting that the hepatitis B vaccine FDOH would remove from the requirements “is a powerful cancer prevention tool” against liver cancer.

Medical professionals also spoke of the risks of changing the vaccination schedule, which may give the impression that some vaccines are less important.

Angela Moore, a registered nurse, said she had witnessed what can happen when families decide against protecting their children.

“We have seen children whose parents have denied them safe and effective vaccines be afflicted by diseases that my generation and the generation before me had the luxury of protection from, due to herd immunity,” she said.

Donald Neel, MD, a pediatrician, recalled the times before the four vaccines were available. “I spent many hours of my life and parents’ lives, holding their hands and praying for their child, who was critically ill with either pneumococcal pneumonia or the various types of meningitis,” he said.

Many speakers represented the parents’ perspective in opposing the proposed rule.

“We want to send our children to schools and daycare and not have to worry about preventable diseases,” said Cass Miller of Florida Families for Vaccines. “For families, an outbreak is not just a statistic; it means missing childcare, a parent missing work, or staying away from grandparents because someone has been exposed.”

Shelly Pedraza, President Elect of the Florida PTA, which includes about 200,000 parents, said “Florida PTA opposes the removal of these vaccine requirements,” because parents are concerned about the health risks.

Those representing teachers said they and their families would be put at risk if vaccination rates drop at their workplace.

Giving the business perspective, Karen van Caulil, president and CEO of the Florida Alliance for Healthcare Value, noted that employers pay for many health insurance plans, and also suffer when parents are absent for child care.

“When preventable illness leads to additional doctor visits, emergency care or hospitalization, those costs are felt by families and employers alike,” she said. “That is why employers have a direct and practical interest in policies that help keep children and communities healthy.”

The ‘parents rights’ argument

Those speaking in favor of the rule mostly spoke of the right for parents to make their own decisions, vaccine-related injuries (which occur rarely but are eligible to submit federal remuneration through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)), and unscientific theories on vaccine safety.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, MD, who has championed the rule change and led the hearing, stressed that there were no questions about the safety and effectiveness of the four vaccines that his new rule would eliminate. Ladapo repeatedly explained that the only reason for the rule change was to increase parents’ right to choose for their children.

BIO and others noted that Florida already allows for religious and medical exemptions to school vaccine requirements.

“Current standards ensure that individual choice is protected while maintaining the greatest access to vaccines for those who wish to take them,” said BIO’s letter. “Further loosening the requirements does not impact an individual’s right to choose vaccination or not, it jeopardizes broader immunity levels and increases the likelihood of outbreaks.”

Ladapo also said other states do not require school children to have some of the vaccines that Florida would cancel. But no state excludes all four vaccines.

Every state except for Alabama requires hepatitis B vaccines, and West Virginia is the only state that doesn’t mandate a Hib vaccine, according to immunize.org. Seven states do not require a pneumococcal vaccine.

As of now, all states require children entering public school and daycare to have the chickenpox vaccine, which also helps protect against meningitis, and according to a new study, prevents later episodes of shingles.

FDOH is accepting comments on the rule proposal by email at vaccinerule@flhealth.gov until 5 pm on Oct. 19.

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