Florida surgeon general Ladapo\u2019s vaccine mandates opposition goes against medical mainstream<\/a><\/p>\nHolcomb\u2019s bill, in part, would prevent health-care facilities and providers from discriminating based on vaccination status, a scenario, for example, that could occur if a doctor did not want to have an unvaccinated patient.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the proposal would tweak what is known as the Florida Patient\u2019s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. The bill of rights already seeks to protect health-care access based on a variety of factors, and Holcomb\u2019s bill would add vaccination status.<\/p>\n
\u201cA patient has the right to impartial access to medical treatment or accommodations, regardless of race, national origin, religion, handicap, vaccination status, or source of payment,\u201d the proposal says.<\/p>\n
Providers who violate the discrimination ban could face discipline, under the bill.<\/p>\n
The proposal also would require providers to inform parents of children about the \u201cunique risks, benefits, safety and efficacy of each vaccine\u201d included in a vaccination schedule. Providers would have to use materials approved by the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine.<\/p>\n
Holcomb\u2019s bill also would create an exemption based on \u201cconscience\u201d to a state requirement that children have health exams within one year before they enroll in school. Parents already can seek exemptions from the requirement based on religious grounds.<\/p>\n
In addition, the bill would allow people to obtain the antiparasitic drug ivermectin without prescriptions. Pharmacists would be able to sell the drug from behind the counter. Ivermectin drew heavy attention \u2014 and controversy \u2014 for its use during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
As of Monday afternoon, a Senate version of Holcomb\u2019s bill had not been filed.<\/p>\n
The Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis during the past few years have targeted such things as COVID-19 vaccination requirements.<\/p>\n
Also, the Florida Department of Health this month held a workshop about a proposal that includes removing vaccination requirements for hepatitis B; varicella, commonly known as chickenpox; Haemophilus influenza type b, or Hib, which can cause meningitis; and pneumococcal conjugate, which can cause pneumonia and meningitis. The requirements are in state rules, which the Department of Health can go through a process to change.<\/p>\n
Other vaccination requirements mandated by state law for school entry \u2014 including for polio, diphtheria, rubeola, rubella, mumps and tetanus \u2014 would remain in place unless the Legislature changes them.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 Calling it the \u201cHealth Care Medical Freedom Act,\u201d a House Republican on Monday filed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[2808,97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-379394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}