Joseph Ladapo

Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced the availability of cancer innovation grant funds for next year and the latest list of researchers chosen to receive grants.

Despite a call to end vaccine mandates in Florida, nothing has happened on a policy level. Now, pediatricians are seeing vaccine hesitancy growing.

During a roundtable on youth mental health, Dr. Joseph Ladapo introduced guidelines urging broader evaluations by providers before children are prescribed psychotropics.

Doctors have warned that removing school mandates and leaving decisions fully up to parents will erode vaccination rates further and eliminate herd immunity levels.

Health experts worry the change could lower vaccination rates and lead to a rise in preventable diseases like polio, which many doctors have little experience with.

The Florida Board of Pharmacy cited a state law that allows pharmacists to administer vaccines that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Scott Rivkees, a pediatrician who served as surgeon general from 2019 to 2021, says the state is going backward when it comes to childhood vaccines.

The plan would include only chickenpox and a few other diseases unless state lawmakers decide to expand it.

Doctors, medical experts and politicians on both sides of the aisle are pushing back on a plan from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to end all vaccine requirements in the state.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, along with Gov. Ron DeSantis, made the announcement Wednesday.