General Discussion

The Washington Post published a memorable analysis in 2022 that noted, “For months, we’ve written in this space about how the Republicans’ pushback against coronavirus vaccine mandates could foment — and apparently has been fomenting — opposition to mandates of other vaccines, including for schoolchildren.”

With this in mind, the latest news out of Florida is dangerous, but it’s not altogether surprising. NBC News reported:

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said Wednesday that the state will work to eliminate all vaccine mandates. ‘All of them. All of them,’ he said during a news conference as the crowd stood and erupted in applause. ‘Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.’ He said the Florida Department of Health will work in partnership with the governor. He said forcing vaccine mandates is ‘wrong’ and ‘immoral.’

No other state has gone nearly this far.......

But that perspective is mistaken: If Florida moves forward with plans to target all of the state’s vaccine mandates, not only will children suffer from preventable diseases, but Floridians will start exporting contagions and serious ailments to other Americans — and in all likelihood, even to other countries.

In 2021, The Washington Post’s Benjy Sarlin noted that it seemed likely that the United States would “end up with fewer vaccine requirements in some places than we started with before the pandemic” that has killed millions of people around the world.

That might’ve sounded ridiculous, but four years later, it’s an unsettling assessment that’s holding up well.