The Florida Senate on Friday held a floor discussion on a bill expanding vaccine exemptions, even though the measure is unlikely to move in the House in the legislative session’s final week.
Senators amended the bill (SB 1756) to block health care practitioners from receiving kickbacks from vaccine manufacturers and clarify the information provided by the Board of Medicine, including risks, benefits, safety and efficacy, of vaccines when parents opt in or opt out of vaccination.
The Senate is poised to vote on the bill Monday, but even with those changes, the House hasn’t advanced its version of the bill and is unlikely to take it up with the session scheduled to end March 13.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, House Speaker Daniel Perez said his chamber won’t consider it.
“That’s a bill that wasn’t heard in the House, it wasn’t heard in the committee process. Obviously, we function differently than the Senate,” Perez said. “A bill that hasn’t moved in the House is not going to be brought up at this time.”
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, would expand vaccine exemptions for public K-12 schools and create a new “conscience” category for parents to opt out of immunizations.
Another provision requires health care practitioners who administer vaccines to offer parents an alternative vaccine schedule, and information about the benefits and risks of vaccines to be given to parents at the time of vaccination.
The bill doesn’t include a key piece of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda: a complete repeal of all required vaccines to enter K-12 public schools. But it does contain a measure backed by DeSantis allowing pharmacists to provide ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug often prescribed for animals, over-the-counter for adults without a prescription.
The drug is seen by some as helpful against COVID-19, but medical professionals have warned against its use to combat the virus. Pharmacists would be given immunity from liability under the bill.
Other bills addressing pieces of DeSantis’ proposal, which would have required doctors to see all patients regardless of vaccination status and to would allow someone who has been harmed by a vaccine to sue the manufacturer never advanced in the Legislature.
Yarborough’s bill has been one of the most controversial bills this session, with parents’ rights advocates arguing the bill is necessary while health care professionals claiming it will lead to the spread of diseases already kept at bay through vaccines.
Senate Republicans are split on the issue. Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, warned of the problems this bill could cause, especially among a measles outbreak in the state.
So far in 2026, the Florida Department of Health has reported 124 measles cases, with the majority stemming from an outbreak at Ave Maria University in Collier County.
Harrell and Sens. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland, and Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Miami, all voted against the bill in prior committee hearings.
Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo and the DOH have already set in motion a rule change that would repeal the vaccine requirements for public K-12 students under the purview of the agency.
Those include Hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.
–Ana Goñi-Lessan, News Service of Florida
Jan says
Whew – luckily enough of our “representatives” did the right thing.
Joseph Mizereck says
Florida’s childhood vaccination policies exist as the result of decades of careful and bipartisan stewardship. This institutional framework was developed thoughtfully to protect the interests of all Floridians, especially our children.
There are numerous reasons to maintain strong vaccination requirements for school attendance in Florida. Diseases such as measles can spread rapidly in school settings, particularly where children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons are present. Even small shifts in exemption policy may carry broader implications that could affect community health and long-term institutional stability.
Institutional continuity is not resistance to change. Rather, it reflects the principle that proven safeguards deserve deliberate evaluation before modification. Public confidence in our schools and health systems rests in part on the steadiness and prudence of public policy.
For decades, strong school immunization requirements kept measles largely at bay. These policies were not symbols of government overreach; they were quiet successes that protected millions of children regardless of background or belief. Weakening them sends a dangerous message: that preventable suffering is an acceptable trade‑off for political signaling.
Leadership is not measured by how loudly one champions “freedom,” but by whether one accepts responsibility for foreseeable harm. When leaders dismiss data, ignore medical consensus, and refuse to plan for consequences, they abdicate that responsibility.
Thank you to our Florida House leaders for not abdicating their responsibilty and for protecting the interests of our state’s children.
Deborah Coffey says
Maybe all those science-denying Republicans pushing Ivermectin will take lots of it! That should settle the question. I did have a MAGA friend on Facebook during the Covid pandemic. He kept writing that Covid was a hoax and amounted to nothing. Finally, I answered one of his comments: “Get back to me when you’re dead.” Five days later…he was…in his fifties. This is nonsense, people. Enormous research and trials go into vaccines and drugs. We should trust this, even if it’s not perfect. What in this life is?
Skibum says
I vividly remember news interviews with ER doctors who were overwhelmed with COVID patients in FL hospitals, many of them on ventilators and begging to receive the COVID vaccination they refused to get before they became deathly ill and at death’s door in the hospital.
All the doctors could do for those already way too ill and on ventilators was to tell them “I’m sorry” while watching far too many ignorant vaccine deniers die of their own stupidity.
I doubt this will be the end of the anti-vax campaign here in this ridiculous, maga-centric state of Flori-DUH, because there are a whole lot of bozos up in Tallahassee who do not have the well being of Floridians in mind when enacting legislation.