Trump's Trials - What could Florida's vaccine mandate struggles teach other states?

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

Republicans in Florida pushed hard to drop some childhood vaccine requirements for school. But efforts petered out. What could this mean for other states considering similar moves? Kerry Sheridan reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you a story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president, with a focus on ways he's using power like no president before him. Here is the latest from NPR. From NPR News, I'm A Martinez. Florida's governor is calling lawmakers back for a special session today. He's put what he calls medical freedom, vaccine choice, on the agenda.

WUSF's Kerry Shepard. Sheridan reports on Florida Republicans' efforts to drop vaccine requirements for school children. Last September, Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Lattapo made a sweeping proclamation. He said the Department of Health, with the support of Governor Ron DeSantis, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them. All of them. According to state law, children have to get certain shots to go to daycare or school. But to Lattipo...

Every last one of them, is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery. For some of the vaccines, the legislature would have to pass new laws to undo the mandates. But for four childhood vaccines against meningitis, chickenpox, and hepatitis B, it's up to the State Department of Health. The department held a forum in Panama City last December. Public comment went on for hours. Larry Downs Jr. spoke out against any vaccine mandates. The default setting should be freedom, not. these corporate chemical vaccine injections.

There were slightly more speakers who wanted to keep the current vaccine rules. One was a Florida school teacher, Marion Fesmire. She's also worked overseas. I've seen kids with polio. I've seen blind kids. I've seen kids die before they're even 10 years old. It's heartbreaking. But there have been no more public forums since then.

The department hasn't filed the paperwork needed to change the vaccination rules. This winter, a vaccine-related bill worked at some. way all the way through the Florida Senate, but it didn't remove any mandates. Instead, it allowed a new kind of exemption. In addition to a religious or medical exemption, a parent could exempt their child for reasons of personal conscience. Democrats are in the minority in the Florida legislature and came out against it. Here's Democratic State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith. It's currently very easy to opt out for for religious reasons from school immunizations given that context. Is your bill just about giving people more options to ignore school immunizations or is it intended to solve a public health problem?

A few Republicans also opposed it. Republican Senator Gail Harrell brought up the measles outbreak. Florida has had over 140 cases this year. I truly believe that this is a dangerous bill, and I cannot vote for it. Once the bill got to the Florida House, it died. Aubrey Jewett is a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. He says Governor DeSantis has lost political capital because he's term limited after this year. For Republicans, they're a little bit leery. They know we're in an election cycle. They know history. And it's pretty clear that the President's party tends to lose seats in the midterm election. National polls still show broad general support for vaccine mandates for school kids.

About eight and ten people, largely across party lines, support them. Kelly Whitner is a health policy professor at Georgetown University. She says in many state legislatures, some Republicans are making a lot of noise around this, but they don't have the backing. For most people, they still support the idea of near universal vaccination, still understand the importance of vaccinating children to protect people who can't be vaccinated. All sorts of things can happen when state legislatures reconvene for rapid-fire special sessions. But so far, despite hundreds of bills introduced nationwide, no state has yet repealed its school vaccination laws.

For NPR News, I'm Carrie Sheridan in Tampa. This story comes from NPR's partnership with WUSF and KFF Health News. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR.