State's plan to drop four school vaccine requirements is on hold while a physicians' challenge plays out

Florida's plan to stop requiring four vaccines for school and day care entry has stalled while a physicians' group fights it in the state's administrative court.

The Florida Department of Health had been on track to put the change into effect this year, Central Florida Public Media reported Friday. Now, "the timeline will be contingent on legal outcomes," department spokesperson Isabel White told the station.

The rule change would drop the requirements for hepatitis B, chickenpox (varicella), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. It is the same proposal state health officials took public comment on at an Oct. 8 meeting at a Lake Mary hotel, where Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo framed it as a matter of parents' rights.

The challenge

The Florida Academy of Family Physicians took its case to the state Division of Administrative Hearings on Friday, Oct. 16, according to CBS News Miami and WUSF. Joining the group are its president, Jacksonville family physician Danielle Carter; a 70-year-old bone marrow transplant recipient with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia; and a school nurse. The last two are identified only by initials.

The petition makes three main arguments, as described in those reports:

• The department is going beyond its legal authority, which the academy says obligates it to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
• The state has produced no new scientific or medical data questioning whether the four vaccines are needed, safe or effective.
• The department missed a procedural deadline. State law gives an agency 180 days to move a rule forward unless it explains the delay to a legislative oversight committee; the petition says the department's letters to that committee, dated Feb. 26 and June 30, gave no reasons.

"The issue here is that would be overall detrimental to public health," Carter told Central Florida Public Media. She said dropping the requirements could leave children with weak immune systems, and possibly pregnant teachers, exposed to the four illnesses.

The state's position

The four requirements come from a Department of Health rule rather than a statute, which means the department can remove them without a vote of the Legislature, CBS News Miami noted. Florida law separately requires shots for polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella, pertussis, mumps and tetanus, with medical and religious exemptions, WUSF reported.

Earlier this month, Ladapo argued the change was about who decides, not whether the vaccines work. "We are not insensitive to the fact that people do have illness, and that's a challenge," he said. "That cannot supersede the right of a parent to make a decision about what's best for their child."

A judge will review the petition first. If the judge finds the petitioners have standing, the case moves ahead, Central Florida Public Media reported.

Sources

cfpublic.org

CBS News

wusf.org