JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Florida could soon be the first state to eliminate all vaccine mandates for adults and children. Governor Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general, Joseph Ladipo, announced that plan earlier this week. Here's Ladipo.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOSEPH LADIPO: Who am I as a government or anyone else or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?
SUMMERS: Now, eliminating many vaccine mandates in Florida will require approval by the legislature, and it's unclear whether state lawmakers will support the governor's push. To help us understand what this could mean for people, we have Dr. Mona Amin on the line. She is a pediatrician in Fort Lauderdale. Welcome.
MONA AMIN: Thank you for having me.
SUMMERS: Dr. Amin, I just want to start by asking you, when you heard that announcement from the governor and the surgeon general, what did you think? What came to mind first?
AMIN: Ooh. There was a lot of big feelings that came up. I was actually in the middle of a meeting, and I started getting all these messages on my phone. And so, hearing this happen, hearing the applause in that conference, was very disheartening and demoralizing as a pediatrician who works day in and day out to try to educate families on the importance of vaccines, answering their questions and trying to really be on the side of public health.
SUMMERS: We have heard warnings from scientists as well as public health workers that we could see a resurgence of diseases like measles or whooping cough if these policies go through. How realistic are those concerns?
AMIN: It's very concerning because we are in a state that already has lower vaccine rates than the national average. And so, for example, in Florida, preschool and kindergarten vaccine coverage has dipped to the high 80s. That's well below the CDC's 95% threshold needed to prevent outbreaks. And so to educate, we were talking about something called herd immunity. And so in order to protect communities for something like measles, 95% of the community has to be vaccinated against measles to reduce the risk of spread. So when those rates are already at the high 80s and then when we remove vaccine mandates, that could mean an even lower dip into the 70-, 60%. And that can mean an increased risk of measles spread and also other diseases that we've seen long gone now coming back.
SUMMERS: Some people argue, as DeSantis and his administration do, that this should come down to personal choice. What do you say to people who make that case?
AMIN: You know, I respect it in so many different aspects of health, but when it comes to something like public health, it's really important to remember that the decisions we make impact others. And it's like saying that I'm going to drive drunk and it's my car, my body, but that endangers everyone else on the road. There has to be rules in place.
So when it comes to infectious diseases, and we're talking about things on that routine childhood schedule, these are things that have been studied for decades, have been given to children for decades and are effective and have been shown to be effective. We know that these are going to prevent the illnesses from spreading. So in regards to infectious diseases, we are seeing the impact there. If I don't get measles protection, if an entire community stops vaccinating or that rate drops below a certain threshold, we can now cause newborns, immunocompromised individuals, grandparents, those who aren't able to get vaccines due to medical issues, now be at risk of getting these viruses and infections when they weren't before.
SUMMERS: Most states already allow parents to avoid vaccine mandates for personal or religious reasons. And in the last school year, nearly 5% of Florida kindergarteners claimed nonmedical exemptions, as I understand. So how could a policy like this one, like what Governor DeSantis has proposed, really affect childhood vaccination numbers in your state of Florida?
AMIN: So as a pediatrician, you know, I see patients. And it's very nice when they have to start school and they come to me and they haven't vaccinated, and then now they're starting that process, right? Because of the school mandates, people are having to get vaccinated, so that increases vaccine rates in a community. Now, if this mandate goes into effect, those families will now not have to vaccinate. They won't be coming to my office. They won't be getting the vaccines, and they'll be entering school systems. So that number can continue to rise.
SUMMERS: Dr. Amin, you work with families every single day. What kinds of conversations have you been having with parents since this decision was announced?
AMIN: So this happened earlier this week that - this announcement, and I was in clinic this morning, actually. And a lot of my families, thankfully, are very vaccine-informed. They have amazing questions. A lot of them ask me, what does this mean? My job is to reassure my families, but at the same time live in this world where I don't know what the future will hold. And that is hard as a pediatrician, as someone who cares so deeply about my community, about my child's safety, about the safety of all of my patients. And all we can do is advocate and hope that we are going to make a change where this is not going to actually go into effect.
SUMMERS: That is pediatrician Dr. Mona Amin. Thank you so much.
AMIN: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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