Weekly roundup: A jab at vaccines

File photo: Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. [Photo by Ryan Dailey]

Florida grabbed national headlines this week as an appellate court injected new life into a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades and the state’s top doctor vowed to end vaccine mandates for schoolkids.

POKING AT SHOTS

Drawing a rebuke from the Florida Medical Association and infusing a contentious topic into the 2026 legislative session, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo vowed Wednesday Florida would be the first state to end vaccine mandates, including those for school-aged children.

“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida. All of them. All of them. Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said during an appearance at Grace Christian School in Valrico.

Ladapo and DeSantis have garnered attention in recent years for their opposition to COVID-19 mandates, including vaccine mandates. But the proposal announced Wednesday would go much further and came as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long known as a vaccine skeptic, has made controversial changes nationally.

Ladapo said the Florida Department of Health will eliminate rules set by his predecessors and request that the Legislature “get rid of the rest of it.”

DeSantis said a “broad package” will go to state lawmakers for consideration during the 2026 legislative session, which begins in January.

Florida has immunization requirements for children entering daycare and preschool. Those requirements include vaccinations for such things as diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis, polio, measles-mumps-rubella and chicken pox, according to the Florida Department of Health website. The requirements grow as students move from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The changes Ladapo proposes will go beyond long-established exemptions for religious and medical reasons and will come with advice from the establishment of a “Make America Healthy Again” advisory committee overseen by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.

The Florida Medical Association voiced support for vaccines and immunizations for school-aged children “against diseases that decades ago proved life-threatening to our kids.”

Democrats quickly called the proposal “reckless” and “horrifying,” noting that parents already have options to keep their children from vaccines.

“If this happened, Florida would be welcoming back child-killers like polio and measles with open arms,” House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said in a statement.

EVERGLADES DETENTION REACTIVATED

Siding with the DeSantis and Trump administrations, a split panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday put on hold a judge’s ruling requiring the wind-down of operations at the remote detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials.

The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a preliminary injunction issued last month by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams and allowed authorities to resume sending detainees to the remote complex that state officials dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Williams’ ruling also prevented additional construction and ordered the removal within 60 days of temporary fencing, detention-center lighting and such things as generators.

The majority opinion found that Williams erred in agreeing with environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which alleged that officials failed to comply with a federal law requiring that an environmental-impact study be conducted before the detention center was constructed.

Lawyers for the DeSantis and Trump administrations argued that the federal law, known as the National Environmental Policy Act, did not apply because the state, not the federal government, built the facility and operates it.

DeSantis quickly praised the ruling, which came in a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida joined the lawsuit.

“Alligator Alcatraz is, in fact, open for business. The mission continues and we’re going to continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement,” the governor said in a video posted on X.

Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, called Thursday’s ruling “a heartbreaking blow to America’s Everglades and every living creature there” but said the court fight is far from over. The groups and the tribe contend the facility, which is surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, poses a series of environmental threats.

POTENTIALLY INAUSPICIOUS

Former state House Speaker Paul Renner on Wednesday launched a 2026 campaign for governor but hit a bump right out of the gate.

“I’m not supporting Paul Renner, you know, I think it was an ill-advised decision to enter,” DeSantis said just hours after the former speaker’s announcement, when asked about Renner’s entry into the contest.

Renner is the first high-profile candidate to take on Congressman Byron Donalds, who has the backing of President Donald Trump, in the Republican primary. Renner touted his links to the governor in Wednesday’s rollout.

“As a legislator and speaker of the House, I stood with Ron DeSantis to brand our state the Free State of Florida,” Renner, an attorney and U.S. Navy veteran, said in the statement. “I’m running for governor so that when the DeSantis era comes to an end, we can defend our victories and solve the challenges that remain.”

Donalds’ campaign responded to Renner’s announcement by pointing to the Trump endorsement.

“Byron Donalds will be Florida’s next governor because he is the proven conservative fighter endorsed by President Trump,” Ryan Smith, Donalds’ chief strategist, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, questions have swirled about whether newly appointed Collins or the First Lady will enter the race.

DEMS HOLD SEATS

Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, and Democrat RaShon Young each captured more than 70 percent of the vote Tuesday as they won special legislative elections in Orange County.

Bracy Davis will move into the Senate District 15 seat previously held by late Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a Democrat who died in February. Young lands in House District 40, which Bracy Davis previously held.