Doctors ask state for hearing on new proposed vaccine rule

The Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians on Wednesday sent notice to the Department of Health requesting a rule hearing on a proposal to make it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinating their school-aged children.

“The Chapter requests that the Department take note of its interest in this issue and to accept this correspondence as part of the official record,” Jacksonville health care attorney Christopher Nuland wrote to the DOH on behalf of the association and its 10,000 members.

“Numerous scientifically vetted studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of these immunizations, while the Chapter is unaware of any substantial competent evidence that would indicate otherwise.”

Nuland included in his letter an American College of Physicians position paper on vaccines issued more than a decade ago. In it, the association supports mandatory childhood vaccinations and opposes expansion of opt-out provisions such as the one Florida seeks.

“Support for eliminating existing exemptions, except for medical reasons, from immunization laws was among the policy recommendations adopted last weekend at the summer meeting ofthe Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians (ACP),” Dr. Wayne J. Riley, president of ACP, said in a written statement at the time.

“Allowing exemptions based on non-medical reasons poses a risk both to the unvaccinated person and to public health,” he added. “Intentionally unvaccinated individuals can pose a danger to the public, especially to individuals who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.”

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization, according to its website. Members include 143,000 internal medicine physicians, specialists who diagnose, treat, and care for adults.

The DeSantis administration published the proposed rule changes last month, one day after Republican gubernatorial hopeful Byron Donalds, appearing on Face the Nation, said he’d like to “study and really engage it” before deciding whether to repeal statutory vaccine requirements for schools.

The DOH did not immediately respond to the Florida Phoenix’s request for comment.

Legal requirements

For entry and attendance in Florida schools, childcare facilities, and family daycare homes, state law requires children to be immunized for poliomyelitis, diphtheria, rubeola, rubella, pertussis, mumps, tetanus, and “other communicable diseases as determined by rules of the Department of Health.”

Under that authority, the DOH has required through regulation that children also be immunized for haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), and pneumococcal conjugate.

Exemptions are allowed for valid medical reasons and religious reasons only.

The proposed rule contains a trio of changes:

• It eliminates vaccine mandates that aren’t required by law.
• It proposes changes to the religious exemption form to allow opt-outs for parents and guardians who maintain immunizations conflict with their “sincerely held moral or ethical belief(s).”
• It allows parents to opt out of their children’s information being put into SHOTS, the State Health Online Tracking System, a free statewide online immunization registry used to track and manage vaccine records.

His first tried last year, appearing with Ladapo in a press conference to announce he wanted to eliminate all vaccine mandates from Florida statutes.

To that end, the DOH published notice of proposed rulemaking, the first step in the lengthy rulemaking process designed for public input, which, therefore, can take months to complete.

The administration was asked to hold a public hearing on the proposed changes, and did.

In addition to trying to push the changes administratively, the governor lobbied the Legislature to pass the policy. But it refused.

With the clock ticking, now the DeSantis administration is refocusing its efforts on changing policy through rule.