Overview

• Florida Surgeon and state health administrator Joseph Ladapo said the state will work to end every vaccine requirement, including for schools, calling existing rules an immoral intrusion and likening mandates to slavery.
• Ladapo indicated some changes could be made through health department rulemaking while others would require legislative action, leaving the timeline and scope contingent on state lawmakers.
• Epidemiologists including Amesh Adalja and Syra Madad warned that dropping school mandates would endanger children and could fuel the return of measles, polio and other preventable diseases after the worst U.S. measles outbreak in more than three decades this year.
• California, Oregon and Washington announced a joint health alliance to issue their own vaccine recommendations and safety information, accusing the federal administration of politicizing science following the ouster of senior health official Susan Monarez.
• More than 1,000 current and former U.S. health department employees urged Congress to seek the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing him of endangering public health through national vaccine policy shifts.