Trump Questions Florida’s Move to Drop Vaccine Mandates: ‘You Have Vaccines That Work’

President Donald Trump expressed concerns about Florida’s new policy that would remove school vaccine requirements, saying that some vaccines are “amazing.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Sept. 5, Trump, 79, said about the policy, “I think we have to be very careful. You have some vaccines that are so amazing.”

“You have some vaccines that are so incredible,” he added, per The Hill, mentioning the polio vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed during his first term.

“I think you have to be very careful when you say some people don’t have to be vaccinated. It’s a very tough position,” Trump said. “Just initially, I heard about it yesterday, and it’s a tough stance.”

Florida’s proposal would remove mandates for vaccines against diseases like measles, polio, hepatitis B, and chickenpox, which have been required to attend public schools for decades.

“Look, you have vaccines that work,” Trump said. “They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all, and I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people. And when you don’t have controversy at all, I think people should take it.”

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a press conference with Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, Sept. 3, that all vaccine requirements in Florida schools would be repealed.

“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo, a longtime critic of vaccines, said during the press conference.

“Who am I as a government or anyone else, 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.”

Ladapo’s announcement faced criticism from other Florida officials.

Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is running for Orlando mayor, said removing vaccine mandates “is reckless and dangerous” and could quickly lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases.

“This is a public health disaster in the making for the Sunshine State,” she wrote on X.

House Democratic leader Fentrice Driskell also criticized the plan, calling it “stunningly reckless.”

“DeSantis wants to trade the health of our kids for media headlines,” she said. “If this happened, Florida would be welcoming back child-killers like polio and measles with open arms.”

The announcement comes shortly after DeSantis revealed the Florida Make America Healthy Again commission, which will suggest state-level implementation of President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial Make America Healthy Again plan.

“The Florida MAHA commission will prioritize reforms that empower Floridians, reduce regulatory burdens and hold actors accountable for their conduct, while fostering incentives for healthy living and innovation,” the governor said.