vaccinations

After a surge of flu just after Christmas, flu numbers have chilled out. Meanwhile, flu vaccination numbers continue to drop.

Calling it the “Health Care Medical Freedom Act,” a House Republican on Monday filed a bill that says health-care providers could not “discriminate” against patients based on vaccination status and seeks to add disclosure requirements when children get vaccinated.

Before Hib vaccination, about 20,000 children younger than five developed severe Hib disease each year in the United States, and about 1,000 died.

“The ripple effect of removing vaccine entry requirements would affect all of us, not just those with children in school,” said FCAAP President Rana Alissa.

The congresswoman's remarks came same day the state's top medical official announced plans to eliminate vaccine mandates.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) called for Florida's surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a Gov. DeSantis ally, to resign or be terminated over his refusal to declare a public health emergency over the Broward County outbreak.

A group of University of Florida medical school faculty members challenged controversial guidance by state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on COVID-19 vaccinations, but a university official said Wednesday the guidance is outside the scope of Ladapo’s work with the school.

Last school year marked a more than 10-year low for Florida’s kindergarten and seventh-grade students completing all doses of required immunizations, according to a recent report from the state Department of Health. The required shots — which do not include COVID-19 vaccinations — are designed to protect against diseases including tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, influenza B, hepatitis B and polio.

Because polio has been vanishingly rare in the U.S. for nearly a half-century, doctors may not consider it when diagnosing patients with typical symptoms. Here are the signs and science behind the disease.

The FDA has authorized Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children ages 6 months to 4 years old. The CDC is recommending those vaccines.

The Special Olympics have begun in Florida without an originally planned vaccine mandate in place that would have blocked some athletes from competing.

COVID-19 vaccinations for children younger than 5 could start right after the Juneteenth holiday.