TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — There is a mixed response among Florida following the push from surgeon General Joseph Radapop to finish his vaccine mission.
One person who opposes this new push is Dr. Scott Livkey, a state surgeon general in the DeSantis administration from 2019 to 2021.
“From the perspective of public health, healthcare and parenthood, this is a sad day for Florida,” Livkey said.
The former state health official is currently a professor at Brown University in Rhode Island. Rivkees has questioned the state’s purpose of pushing for elimination of vaccine mandates.
“We wear seat belts to our kids, and our kids are sitting in booster seats.
In Hillsboro County on Wednesday, the DeSantis administration said the effort was to give parents options.
“You put it in your body because of your relationship with your body and your God. I have no right to that,” Radapop said. “You want to put a different vaccine in your body, God bless you. I hope you make an informed decision.”
Liberty’s organizational mom supports push. Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Camoutes also supports the effort.
“These changes fit all missions that fit all missions that strip selected parents by removing the vaccine from the vaccinations needed to attend school,” Kamoutsas said.
Lee Bryant, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, is preparing for the potential for an increase in parents who have not vaccinated their students.
“Many of our educators have families who may bring their illness home, and even if they don’t get it outwardly, they may bring their illness home to their immune deficient wife, husband, father or mother,” Bryant said.
Tampa Bay educators are specifically helping students take the MMR vaccine after fighting rubella as a child.
Parent Cat Robinson Marrone is determined to stick to the child’s recommended vaccine schedule if the obligation is eliminated.
“We all want healthy children, the vaccines are not political, the science is not political, and the evidence in favor of both is not political,” Robinson Marone said.
But parent Amanda Lemond sees two aspects of this argument.
“On the other hand, we are very excited that we are not forced to mandate that our children have something into their bodies, and on the other side we see how there is some concern about growing disease,” Lemond said.
Readus Smith is the regional president of the Health Group Wellvana Interfaith Network. He worries about out-of-pocket costs and the availability of vaccines if the obligation goes away.
“If insurers can cut costs, they’ll cut costs,” Smith said. “That would be what we call selective or selective. In other words, in most cases, they’re not going to cover it like normal.”
Radapop’s predecessor said it is still unclear what will happen in coverage.
“Medicaid covers vaccines for children through its vaccine program for children. It has not yet been decided how this will be affected by changes to state law,” Livkey said.
It is unclear who in Congress will partner with DeSantis and Ladapo to eliminate vaccine obligations.
Senator Rick Scott, who was governor before DeSantis, issued a statement.
“Florida already has a great system that allows families to opt out based on religious and personal beliefs, balancing the health of their children with parental rights.”
