Opposing a move to end Florida’s vaccination mandate will likely be a top priority for the Palm Beach County School District during next year’s legislative session.
Palm Beach County School Board Chair Karen Brill added opposition to ending the vaccine mandate to the district’s preliminary list of legislative priorities on Sept. 10, a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, called for an end to vaccination requirements, including the requirement that children get vaccinations before enrolling in school.
Florida would be the first state in the country to end vaccination requirements, which public health experts said have reduced infections and saved millions of lives. DeSantis and Ladapo, however, argue that requiring parents to get their children vaccinated is a violation of parental rights.
Not all vaccine requirements can be lifted by Governor
The district is typically cautious in staking out positions that could trigger recriminations from the governor, who has a super majority of fellow Republicans in a state Legislature that controls district funding. But in the aftermath of the call to end the state’s vaccine mandate, several school board members have now spoken out against such a move, arguing that it would endanger students, teachers and the broader community.
“These vaccines protect children from dangerous diseases like measles, mumps, rubella and polio, and they’ve been proven to be safe,” Brill said during a school board workshop. “By ensuring that our children are vaccinated before and during school, we reduce their risk of contracting and spreading these diseases. I think that we have to keep our schools safe.”
The school board will hold another workshop on its legislative priorities on Oct. 8 before finalizing the list a week later.
DeSantis and Ladapo can end some vaccine requirements without legislative approval, but lawmakers would have vote to change those requirements enshrined in state law. That could set up a pitched battle in the Legislature between Republicans who share the governor’s view that vaccine requirements are infringements and others who see them as crucial not only to public health but to the state’s economy, which is heavily reliant upon tourism.
President Donald Trump added a twist to the potential debate when, a couple days after DeSantis and Ladapo called for an end to Florida’s vaccine mandate, he touted the safety and effectiveness of some vaccines and argued that “we have to be very careful” in changing vaccine policy. Some Republican lawmakers, wary of a vaccine mandate change that might spook tourists — and the Sunshine State businesses that rely on them — could find political cover in the president’s words.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said she expects the vaccine debate to be intense once the legislative session begins on January 13.
Which vaccine mandates are up to Florida legislators?
“Yes, most definitely, it will be a battle that happens,” Skidmore said during a panel discussion on the vaccine mandate held at the Mandel Public Library in West Palm Beach on Sept. 8. “One party has the power. The minority party is the one that will be fighting back. Some in the majority, hopefully, will join in that fight — some that have reasonableness in their DNA and aren’t afraid to buck the leadership. It will be a very, very big fight.”
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, participates in a panel discussion on vaccinations at the Mandel Public Library in West Palm Beach on September 8, 2025.
Skidmore said DeSantis and Ladapo can end vaccine requirements for meningitis, influenza and pneumococcal diseases without legislative approval by changing state Department of Health rules. But the Legislature would need to act to end mandates for measles, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, mumps and tetanus. Vaccinations against those illnesses are part of state law.
The district’s draft policy position calls for opposition to any change in state law “regarding vaccination requirements for enrollment in Florida schools while maintaining the existing exemptions.”
Parents can opt out of the requirement to have their children vaccinated if they complete a religious exemption form. Critics of the call to end the state’s vaccination mandates point to those exemptions and argue that parents already have the flexibility DeSantis and Ladapo say is their right.
School Board member Erica Whitfield spoke in favor having the district oppose ending the state’s vaccine mandate. She also suggested partnering with the Palm Beach County Medical Society in urging lawmakers not to change the state’s vaccination mandate.
The society released a statement on Sept. 9 saying it was aware of the recent call to end the state’s vaccination mandate.
Legislator: Public mobilization key to vaccine mandate outcome
“However, we at the Palm Beach County Medical Society continue to strongly suggest that children receive all of the historically recommended childhood vaccines, which have proven, and continue to be extremely effective in preventing the development of infection, as well as protecting others in the family and society as a whole,” the statement read. “We encourage everyone to discuss with their physicians which vaccines are recommended for them based upon their individual medical circumstances and prior immunization history.”
School Board member Edwin Ferguson, speaking at the vaccine panel discussion, said he has confidence legislators won’t change the state’s vaccine laws.
“You guys are not going to change the laws that you spoke of,” he told Skidmore. “The business sector is not gonna go for this. We’re not trying to have our employees at home caring for kids with measles and all of these different illnesses that have been eradicated. It’s not gonna happen.”
U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, the West Palm Beach Democrat who organized the panel discussion, said she does not share Ferguson’s confidence.
“I live in Florida,” Frankel said. “We have seen some really bad things happen, in my opinion.”
Skidmore said the only sure way to make sure the vaccine mandate is not ended is public mobilization.
“An overwhelming response to the danger of removing the mandate of vaccinations is what needs to happen from every corner of the state,” she said. “This is a very, very dangerous precipice that we’re on. This is a conversation that is not going to change unless the public outcry overwhelms the zealots.”
Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County School District looks to fight for vaccine mandate