University of Florida medical students gathered on Friday to protest Florida’s plan to remove vaccine mandates in schools, aligning with criticism echoed by public health experts nationwide that this decision could lead to a reemergence of certain diseases and place a burden on healthcare systems.
At a protest organized by the UF chapter of the Students for a National Health Program, about 50 students said they believed it was wrong for Florida to consider making vaccines voluntary for families enrolling their children to school.
Gautham Amaravadi, who attended the demonstration held across from UF’s College of Medicine, echoed this sentiment. He said Florida repealing vaccine mandates was “a step in the wrong direction” and believes it will place a burden on the healthcare system which has recently come under scrutiny by the Trump administration as it considers cuts to federal funding to state health departments.
“Vaccines are generally incredibly low risk for the benefit they provide, especially [for] children who are so susceptible to many communicable, devastating diseases,” said Amaravadi, a 23-year-old UF student.
The student protest comes after Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on Sept. 3 announced in a news conference that Florida will work to end vaccine mandates for children and adults.
UF is not the only Florida school where medical students held protests. The University of Miami chapter of the Students for a National Health Program planned to host a protest the Friday evening in Miami.
Ladapo is a professor at UF, and he’s been a longtime critic of vaccines, especially mRNA vaccines that were created to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Shirsika Kummeta, a medical student and co-president of the group who organized the protest, said part of the reason they hosted the rally was to demand UF’s condemnation of its own professor’s actions.
“People know that he is a UF physician, so it seems like UF is co-signing all of the things that he's saying,” Kummeta said.
UF spokesperson Steve Orlando wrote in an email that UF does not have any comment on the protest or whether it plans to change its immunization requirements following the end of vaccine mandates. However, UF Health —Ladapo’s employer — said in a statement to the USA Today Network - Florida that vaccines were “safe” and essential.”
"Public health and safety is a shared responsibility," UF Health’s statement read. "The overwhelming consensus of the medical and public health communities show that vaccines are among the most studied and scrutinized medical interventions in history.”
Florida’s health department announced that the state’s plan to lift vaccine mandates won’t take effect for another 90 days and will only cover school vaccines for some diseases such as chicken pox and hepatitis B, according to a statement the department sent to The Associated Press.
Protestors stood at the intersection of Southwest Archer Road across from UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital where they chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear, vaccines are not to fear.” They waved signs, including some that read “Vaccines Save Lives” and “Don’t Hate, Vaccinate.”
Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford, who attended the protest, said the county plans to continue educating people about the importance of vaccines while ensuring residents can keep accessing them.
"Vaccines work when the majority of people are vaccinated. You need about 95% of the population vaccinated to protect everybody. If you drop below that, you're getting dangerously low,” said Dr. Leo Alonso, a retired emergency medicine physician who worked in multiple Jacksonville hospitals.
Alonso is on the board for the Florida chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, the parent organization of the Students for a National Health Program. He said he was appalled when he heard about Florida’s plan to remove vaccine mandates.
“Any public health person knows that vaccines save millions of lives around the world,” he said.
Gita Lakshminarayanan, a 29-year-old UF graduate and doctoral student, is the state co-chair of the student organization. She said the University of Miami chapter of the Students for a National Health Program planned to host a protest Friday evening in Miami.
Lakshminarayanan said she expects other universities, such as Florida State University or University of Central Florida, with Students for a National Health Program campus chapters to organize protests against the state’s plans.
She said she expects other universities, such as Florida State University or University of Central Florida, with Students for a National Health Program campus chapters to organize protests against the state’s plans.
“Words have an actual impact,” Lakshminarayanan said. “If our surgeon general can use his words to harm people, then I can use my words to help them.”