Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced on Sept. 3 that he was working to eliminate all vaccine mandates from state law.

“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law,” he said at a press conference. “All of them.

“Every last one is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.

“Who am I, as a government, or anyone else, or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?

“I don’t have that right. Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God.”

The surgeon general reiterated that neither he nor the government had the right to force vaccines upon people and urged those listening to take that power away from the government and make their own informed decisions.

Jeff Childers, an attorney in Gainesville, Florida, who spent years opposing mask and vaccination mandates in court during the COVID-19 pandemic and runs a blog called “Coffee and Covid,” celebrated the news as “vindicating.”

He told The Epoch Times that Ladapo’s use of the word slavery was more than just a “rhetorical trick” and touched on a related issue: bodily autonomy.

“This is about a kind of fundamental human liberty,” Childers said.

“The sanctity of your body, or whether you can be considered property when the community requires it, that’s that kind of polarizing issue like slavery, that there is no in between.

“Either you’re the kind of person that thinks that all of us should be prepared to take one for the team if the community needs it, or you’re the kind of person that thinks that, no, you can never make somebody do something like that against their will.”

Ladapo said the Florida Department of Health was able to start the process by striking down rules established by his predecessors that mandated several vaccines, and then his department would work with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s lawmakers to eliminate the rest of the mandates.

“We need to end it,” Ladapo said. ”It’s the right thing to do, and it'll be wonderful for Florida to be the first state to do it.”

One form of those mandates is vaccine requirements for students to attend school. Such requirements currently stand in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Of that total, 29 states and the District of Columbia only allow exemptions for those who claim religious objections, while 14 other states allow exemptions for either religious or personal/philosophical objections. Louisiana and Minnesota do not specify if a person’s non-medical exemption has to be for religious or personal reasons.

All 50 states allow medical exemptions. Five states do not allow for any nonmedical exemption.

According to the Florida Department of Health’s website, several immunization requirements are in place as of Sept. 3.

By the time a child is ready for day care or preschool, for example, he or she is required to be vaccinated for Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), Varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b, Pneumococcal conjugate, and Hepatitis B (Hep B).

A child attending any grade from kindergarten through 12th grade needs to have four or five doses of DTaP, four or five doses of IPV, two doses of MMR, three doses of Hep B, one Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis, and two doses of Varicella (unless a history of varicella disease is documented).

Childers said Ladapo could start the process of removing the vaccine mandates in a matter of days, possibly limited by some statute like posting a notice of the change. DeSantis could also sign an executive order. But the real lasting change would come from laws passed by the Legislature.

Ladapo did not offer further details on how he would go about eliminating the vaccine mandates.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has stated its opposition to the move over concerns that it would put the state’s public school children at higher risk for getting sick and further affect the community.

“The AAP believes every family should have access to immunizations to keep their community healthy,” the organization said in a statement.

“Schools are an important part of that community, but close contact with other kids makes it easy for contagious diseases to spread quickly. That’s why most schools require routine childhood immunizations.

“When everyone in a school is vaccinated, it’s harder for diseases to spread.”

Childers said the AAP was making claims without evidence and that the move was not against vaccines.

“It’s not even about whether the vaccines work or not,” he said.

“Think about how crucial that distinction is.

“They’re not trying to argue that vaccines hurt some kids, right? They’re saying it’s just wrong to make people take medicine if they don’t want to.”

Ladapo made his announcement as DeSantis announced the creation of the state’s Make America Healthy Again Commission and Medical Freedom Protections.

The commission will be chaired by his wife, Casey DeSantis.