Florida’s recent move to roll back vaccine mandates for children is a dangerous step away from safe public health practices and children’s health.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), is among a number of other leading figures spewing anti-vaccine rhetoric. He has continuously fueled public skepticism over a trusted health standard that has saved countless lives in the United States. Now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration has aligned itself with this rhetoric and is turning it into state policy.
Ending vaccine mandates undoes a requirement that allows children to grow up free from diseases that once routinely killed or permanently disabled them. In the early 20th century, diseases such as measles, smallpox, diphtheria and polio devastated communities. Thanks to vaccines, those illnesses are now either eradicated or extremely rare in the U.S. These victories were made possible because vaccinations became accessible and, more importantly, mandatory for children in all 50 states by the early 1980s.
Vaccines must undergo rigorous testing before approval and continuous monitoring once they are in use. Adverse effects are exceedingly rare and far outweighed by the benefits. The widespread use of the measles vaccine has saved an estimated 17 million lives globally since 2000. The vaccine is beyond a successful public health measure in eradicating childhood disease.
Though anti-vaccine critics have always been around, the backlash following the COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021 gave their movement new momentum. Right-wing activists quickly spread a fear that vaccines caused autism or other health issues despite overwhelming evidence against their claims.
In fact, the myth that vaccines cause autism remains one of the most pervasive lies fueling the anti-vaccine movement. This claim originated from a fraudulent 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield. This has since been retracted and discredited on the grounds of Wakefield manipulating evidence, misreporting findings and selectively choosing cases to create a false connection. As such, decades of research have conclusively debunked any link between vaccines and autism, despite the misinformation continuing to be amplified by figures such as RFK Jr.
Another frequent argument is that vaccine mandates infringe on personal freedoms, though this reasoning is applied inconsistently in right-wing party politics, such as with abortion rights.
Personal choice may be a fair argument for adult medical decisions, but children require a different standard. They are uniquely vulnerable to infectious diseases and rely on adults to make decisions in their best interest. Choosing not to vaccinate a child doesn’t just endanger that child, it also threatens others who cannot receive vaccines due to medical conditions.
Herd immunity, which protects entire communities, only works if the vast majority are vaccinated. Those who choose not to get vaccinated today may claim that they do not contract diseases despite not being vaccinated, but this is a direct result of the crushing majority of people who did get vaccinated, and are, in turn, protecting them.
This makes vaccines a victim of their own success. Many parents and adults have never seen the devastation of diseases like measles or polio, so they underestimate the importance of vaccination. In the 1950s, parents lined up eagerly to vaccinate their children against polio, a disease that paralyzed or killed thousands of children annually in the U.S. alone. Now, some parents take for granted that such diseases are rare and assume that opting out won’t carry consequences.
The same parents who fear that getting their children vaccinated will give them autism, do not as heavily fear the deadly diseases that not getting vaccinated would result in. This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that measles cases, currently at 1,288 cases in 2025, have reached the highest levels in 33 years. Most of these outbreaks, being largely concentrated in communities with low vaccination rates, underscore how quickly preventable diseases can return. When Florida removes vaccine mandates, it risks becoming a breeding ground for disease outbreaks that can spread to other states.
Parents should absolutely ask questions about their children’s health, while simultaneously being hypervigilant about accepted misinformation and debunked studies that spread online. Now, policymakers must do their jobs by relying on factual studies to ensure children remain protected through school vaccination requirements.
Even with the Republican Party, resistance to vaccine mandates for children is far from unanimous. During congressional hearings, GOP senators pressed RFK Jr. on his anti-vaccine rhetoric, and many prominent Republicans, including President Donald Trump, continue to reaffirm the importance of childhood vaccination.
The bipartisan consensus on this topic should serve as a reminder that protecting children’s health with vaccinations should not be a controversial issue.
Julia Kremenetsky is an Opinion Staff Writer for the fall 2025 quarter. She can be reached at jkremene@uci.edu.
Edited by Isabella Ehring and Joshua Gonzales