With measles surging in Florida, DeSantis gets vaccine pushback | Column

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For the past few years, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general have been on a vaccine-bashing tear, trashing long-established requirements that children be protected against deadly, contagious diseases before they start school.

Basically, in the battle between humanity and disease, these guys went all-in for Team Virus. And now their crusade is paying nasty, rashy dividends.
Through the first 10 weeks of this year, Florida reported 109 cases of measles.
To put that number in context, in 2020, there were only five documented measles cases … in the entire nation.
Welcome to the “Free State of Florida” — where the governor wants you to have the “freedom” to expose your kids to a deadly virus. And everyone else’s kids as well.
Until now, DeSantis and Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo waged their war on public health without much pushback from fellow politicians. Sure, most anyone who’d even walked by a medical school said the two men’s plans were fringy and dangerous. But for the most part, their political peers just let them have fun trolling science.
This month, however, Republicans in the Legislature pushed back, refusing to pass DeSantis’ so-called “Medical Freedom” act. Apparently, most decided they want Florida children to have the “freedom” to continue living.
Sen. Gayle Harrell, a Republican from Stuart, said her primary care doctor told her: “I don’t want to go back to medical school to learn how to treat polio.”
The Florida Senate actually passed a watered down version of the DeSantis/Ladapo plan to Make Diseases Great Again that didn’t remove all vaccine requirements, but made opting out easier. The House, however, refused to play along at all with Speaker Daniel Perez declaring the bill dead.
Maybe it’s all fun and games until you realize your own kid could also die from measles-related pneumonia.’

For those unfamiliar with modern medicine, vaccines aren’t one of those issues where “smart people on both sides” have varying opinions. The medical community is united.
After the governor released his anti-vax plan last fall — with his surgeon general comparing vaccine requirements to “slavery” — the American Medical Association responded: “This unprecedented rollback would undermine decades of public health progress and place children and communities at increased risk for diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death.”
The World Health Organization says “immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives — or the equivalent of 6 lives every minute of every year — over the past 50 years.”
Even Donald Trump’s CDC is unequivocal in promoting the value and importance of vaccines.
Most people know this. Polls show Republicans, Democrats and independents all support vaccine requirements by overwhelming majorities of 70-85%, according to surveys cited by Florida Politics.
It makes sense, right? Spreading deadly diseases isn’t a value held by any logical person or party.
As the Miami Herald’s conservative columnist, Mary Anna Mancuso, recently wrote while explaining her opposition to vaccine rollbacks: “Like most conservatives, I like my government limited and freedom abundant. But freedom without good judgment isn’t conservatism — it’s reckless.”
So it’s important to remember: While vaccine bashers and doubters may be loud, they’re also in the minority … if also in the governor’s mansion.
For the record, Florida law already allows parents to seek exemptions with relative ease. More than 11,000 Floridians opted out just last year.
But DeSantis and Ladapo wanted to remove the requirements altogether. The Senate’s version theoretically kept the requirements, but made it even easier for anyone to opt out if they felt inclined. It would’ve been like having a rule that said nobody can drink and drive … except for those who decided they really wanted the “freedom” to pound vodka-tonics during rush hour.
Area senators who supported the senate’s “Medical Freedom” act (SB 1756), included Republicans Jason Brodeur, Ralph Massullo, Debbie Mayfield, Keith Truenow and Tom Wright.
Some people say: “If you get a vaccine, what do you care what I do?” Those people are uninformed. Not everyone can take vaccines. Some are immunocompromised. Also, even if a vaccine is 98% effective, that still leaves two out of every 100 people who take it vulnerable.
Most of us believe in doing things for human beings other than ourselves.
Health experts say you need 95% vaccination rates to be effective. Yet some Florida counties now have rates as low as 80% for kindergartners and 72% for 2-year-olds. Consequently, Florida’s recent rise in measles is precisely what was predicted. This past week, a TV station in Southwest Florida reported that a surge in measles cases at Ave Maria University appears to have spread to nearby primary school.
The measles comeback isn’t limited to Florida. But the Sunshine State trails only South Carolina and Utah. Florida has seen four times as many measles cases as California and New York combined. Take that, libs.
Some of those who trash vaccines are the product of something researchers call “survivorship bias” — when you don’t consider something a threat because it never threatened you personally.
Older generations took vaccines without throwing tantrums, doing their part to combat diseases that could cripple and kill. As a result, younger generations had the luxury of viewing polio and rubella as merely theoretical threats.
It’s encouraging to see some Florida Republicans take a stand for public health and common sense. It’s also encouraging to see some new candidates for office leaning into this fight.
One of them, Eric Gray, a Democrat running for a State House seat in east Orange County, recently sent his supporters an email making it clear that vaccines are a priority for him after contemplating the heart-breaking possibility that one of his own children could die “because lawmakers chose ideology over established science.”
“This is not a culture war skirmish. It is a life and death responsibility,” Gray wrote. “And our children deserve leaders who understand that.”
Amen.