In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory vaccination of children to attend public schools was neither “arbitrary” nor “oppressive,” and was within the state’s right to ensure public safety. Further affirming the right of the state to protect children, in 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow that they are free, in identical circumstances to make martyrs of their children… .”
Yet here we are in 2026, with vaccine-preventable diseases making a resurgence, with fringe medical leaders attempting to tear down standard and beneficial medical practice and make our children martyrs. Sadly, this effort is occurring this legislative session in Florida, even though 80% of the public, including 70% of Trump voters, overwhelmingly support requiring vaccines for children.
This week, during a special session, the Florida Legislature will consider a bill called “Medical Freedom” (SB 1756), which has the potential to harm children. This bill will undermine required school vaccination requirements, impose unnecessary burdens on healthcare providers and parents, and have a negative economic impact.
The bill also promotes easy access to ivermectin, a medication for intestinal parasites that became a culture war symbol during the COVID-19 pandemic despite no proven effectiveness against COVID-19, and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration warning about its use. SB 1756 would allow pharmacists to dispense ivermectin without a prescription, which is the equivalent of walking into a pharmacy and requesting amoxicillin for a self-diagnosed infection. This potential practice bypasses clinical judgment that catches serious illness. We also envision some parents treating their children with ivermectin instead of having them seen by a physician when they are ill.
It is the same purveyors of false medication claims that want to undermine what the public wants: mandatory childhood vaccination to attend public school. Recent national polling in even very politically conservative states shows that about 80% of parents want all children vaccinated. As our nation experiences unprecedented measles outbreaks due to declining vaccination rates, we are seeing a rise in vaccine enthusiasm, too. It has been reported that President Donald Trump has curtailed the anti-vaccine rhetoric of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well. It is encouraging to see a mainstream public health expert proposed as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that he will still influence vaccine policy.
Cries of “personal freedom and choice” are trumpeted by vaccine opponents when it comes to pediatric vaccination. Yet, this notion is no more than a Trojan Horse of vaccine undermining and opposition. Demands to have pediatricians provide informed consent for vaccine administration ignore the fact that this is already a standard practice. There are insidious calls to allow parents to split vaccine doses rather than have them bundled. Yet, collectively, more than 100 million doses of combined vaccines are given annually to children worldwide with proven benefit and safety. Splitting vaccine doses will harm health, delay vaccination, result in parents missing work and children missing school to attend additional medical appointments, and lead to additional medical visit costs.
Pediatricians universally believe that vaccination is an essential part of the standard of care for children. Unvaccinated children are not only a risk to classmates and the public, but also to those in physician waiting rooms. Half of all physicians in the US, thus, will not provide care to families that do not vaccinate their children. Florida currently has a law in place, “The Protections of Medical Conscience Act (SB 1580),” that allows physicians to refuse treatment based on personal beliefs. Legislative efforts, though, are taking place to prohibit practitioners from turning away families that choose not to vaccinate their children. Should this occur, one can rightfully ask whether all physician exemptions for rendering treatment should be eliminated, as well?
As part of anti-vaccine efforts in Florida, we see calls for personal conscience exemptions to vaccination, joining medical and religious vaccine exemptions that are allowed in the state. It is important to recognize that few religions oppose vaccinating children. Nevertheless, the current Florida Surgeon General has made it easier for parents to claim religious exemptions than in the past, and up to 30% of children entering kindergarten in some counties are not being fully vaccinated.
When I was Florida’s surgeon general, parents had to go to local departments of health and speak with a vaccine expert about the consequences before a religious exemption was issued. Now, parents can download a form and present it to the school to have a religious exemption for vaccination. Recently, legislators tried requiring parents claiming vaccine exemptions to consult a healthcare provider before opting out. However, that amendment was struck down.
As SB1756 comes for a vote, politicians and the public need to ask why we are drifting into fringe medicine that will hurt people.
For the sake of children and our society, we need to push back against false claims that undermine the basic practice of medicine and public health. Floridians do not want to take public health backward.
Scott A. Rivkees, MD, is a pediatrician and the former Florida Surgeon General and secretary of health for Florida.