Florida wants to remove four vaccines from the shots that students need to enter public and private schools. The state Department of Health published this proposed rule on August 24, 2026. The four vaccines are hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate. The rule is numbered 64D-3.046, the department's notice says.
The plan comes during a measles outbreak. Florida has 142 reported measles cases. That ranks it fifth in the nation. It is behind South Carolina (670), Utah (526), Pennsylvania (321), and Virginia (176). These are Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures cited by the Florida Phoenix.
But the measles vaccine is not one of the four shots this rule would remove. State law requires the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot. This rule would not change state law, the News Service of Florida reports.
Here is why the rule can move on its own. The four vaccines are set by an agency rule, not by state law. So the department can remove them itself, the News Service of Florida reports. State law still requires shots for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), polio, diphtheria, rubeola, and tetanus. Those requirements would not change.
The rule would also make two other changes. It would expand religious exemptions to include moral and ethical beliefs. It would also let parents and college students opt out of adding their records to the state vaccine database. These come from the notice and the News Service of Florida.
The key dates are set. Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo approved the rule on August 20, 2026. The department then opened a 21 day public comment period. It runs from August 24, 2026, to September 14, 2026. The comment window closes on September 14, 2026, the notice states.
The effort started last fall. In September 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo asked the Legislature to roll back all vaccine mandates. "Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery," Ladapo said at the time in Valrico, in Hillsborough County. No lawmaker filed a bill in the 2026 sessions to remove the requirements from state law. "Medical Freedom" bills that would have expanded exemptions passed the state Senate. They failed in the state House, the News Service of Florida reports.
Medical groups spoke out against the plan. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said it would put children at risk. "The AAP believes every family should have access to immunizations to keep their community healthy," Kressly said in a statement reported by the News Service of Florida. Rana Alissa, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said vaccine-preventable diseases can return when vaccination rates fall. She urged the department to keep the current rules, the Florida Phoenix reports. Eehab Kenawy, a Panama City pediatrician, said religious exemptions already let parents opt out. "You're not forced. But sending a message to the general public that vaccines are not important, vaccines are not needed, is not the way to do it," he said at a December 2025 department meeting, the News Service of Florida reports.
The proposal comes with about five months left in DeSantis's term, the Florida Phoenix reports. Republican candidate Byron Donalds said he would "study and really engage it" before deciding on the state law requirements. An adviser to Democratic nominee David Jolly said Jolly would fire Ladapo if elected. Both points come from the Florida Phoenix.