【Epoch Times December 16, 2025】- Dozens of parents, doctors, educators, and advocates gathered at a hotel conference room in Panama City Beach, Florida on Friday (December 12) to testify on a proposed change to vaccine administration rules by the Florida Department of Health.
The public hearing was organized by the Florida Department of Health.
The proposal aims to eliminate a mandatory requirement in Florida, which states that children must receive vaccinations for hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in order to attend public or private schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Additionally, the proposal also seeks to remove another mandatory requirement, which states that children must receive pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in order to enter childcare facilities.
Under Florida law, the withdrawal of mandatory vaccination requirements related to diseases such as polio, mumps, tetanus, and others must be completed through legislation.
The proposal to revoke mandatory vaccination requirements for certain vaccines for schoolchildren is being pushed by Florida government officials. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has previously urged the removal of the mandate for all schools to require vaccinations.
Currently, all states and jurisdictions in the United States mandate vaccinations for children in childcare centers and schools to prevent various diseases, including measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, pertussis, and chickenpox among others.
At the same time, all states allow children who are unable to receive certain vaccines due to medical reasons to be exempt. Most states also allow exemptions for religious or other non-medical reasons.
Pediatricians, infectious disease doctors, and teachers believe that removing mandatory requirements is equivalent to undermining vaccinations, which are a cornerstone of public health policy used to protect children and adults from “potentially deadly but preventable” diseases.
Experts warn that abolishing these mandatory requirements may lead to the resurgence of preventable childhood diseases and the risk of death, undoing one of the “greatest strides” in public health history.
Pediatrician Eehab Kenawy, practicing in Panama City, detailed the care provided by his hospital to two unvaccinated children who contracted Hib virus, causing severe infections and brain swelling over the past six months.
Kenawy said, “Unfortunately, one infant passed away at four months old, unvaccinated.”
He mentioned another Hib patient, a two-and-a-half-year-old, whose mother pleaded for vaccination for her child after severe brain infection occurred. Recounting the mother’s words, “Please give my child all the vaccines possible.”
Some doctors recall overcrowded hospital wards with critically ill children before widespread vaccination.
Pediatrician Paul Robinson, who trained at Vanderbilt University in the 1980s, cared for numerous children with diseases that are now preventable, including Hib infections.
Robinson stated that vaccines “don’t cause mild illness, they cause death…deafness, paralysis, or lifelong neurological damage.”
He added that the policy advocated by the Florida Department of Health Director is “dangerous.”
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of vaccines has been called into question, leading to a surge in vaccine skepticism.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has long been skeptical of the safety and efficacy of existing vaccines and is currently working to reshape US vaccine policy.
Florida Department of Health Director Joseph Ladapo described current mandates in schools and elsewhere as “unethical” violations of people’s rights, depriving parents of the right to make decisions concerning their children’s health.
Parents and activists against mandatory vaccination emphasize the importance of personal freedom.
Mary Helms from Apalachicola, Florida, a mother and grandmother, expressed her “full support” for the repeal of mandates, endorsing Kennedy, and emphasizing that “medical choice and medical freedom are supreme rights granted by God”.
Susan Sweetin, marketing director of the National Vaccine Information Center, recounted the scene of her newborn son being urgently taken to receive the hepatitis B vaccine, emphasizing that vaccines “harmed” her son.
She stated, “This is not informed consent, this is coercion.” She particularly emphasized that “vaccination should never be tied to a child’s education.”
(This article references reporting from the Associated Press)