During the final weeks of the 2026 legislative session, Governor Ron DeSantis is pressing Florida lawmakers to pass sweeping changes to the state’s school vaccination requirements, throwing his weight behind a bill that would give parents new ways to opt their children out of immunizations that have been mandatory for school enrollment for more than 40 years.
The measure at the center of the effort, Senate Bill 1756, is formally titled “Medical Freedom.” DeSantis has publicly called for passage of legislation consistent with the bill, framing the issue as one of parental rights. The proposal would amend Florida Statutes Section 1003.22, the law that currently requires children to be vaccinated against diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and polio before they can attend public or private school.
If signed into law, the bill could reshape how roughly 2.8 million public school students and hundreds of thousands of private school students across Florida meet health requirements for enrollment as early as the next academic year.
What the bill would change
Florida currently allows two types of vaccine exemptions for school entry: medical exemptions, which require a physician’s certification that a vaccine would be harmful to a specific child, and religious exemptions, which parents can claim without providing detailed justification. The state does not permit broad philosophical or personal-belief exemptions, a category that exists in roughly 15 other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
SB 1756, now in its second committee substitute version (CS/CS/SB 1756), would expand the exemption framework. The bill text proposes new opt-out pathways that go beyond the existing medical and religious categories, potentially opening the door to personal-belief exemptions. It also includes provisions that would alter how vaccines are administered and documented by healthcare providers and how the Florida Department of Health oversees compliance.
The specific statutory sections targeted for amendment include Section 1003.22, which governs school-entry immunizations and the duties of the Department of Health, and the administrative rules that flow from it, particularly Rule 64D-3.046 under the Florida Administrative Code. Together, these form the compliance system that every school district in the state currently enforces. The Department of Health’s immunization laws page outlines the existing legal framework the bill seeks to rewrite.
Where the bill stands in the legislature
SB 1756 has moved through at least two committee substitutes in the Florida Senate, a sign that it has cleared multiple committee stops with amendments along the way. Vote records and staff analyses are posted on the Senate’s official tracking page for the bill. A companion effort is being tracked on the House side through the Florida House legislative portal, where staff summaries and any adopted amendments are publicly available.
However, whether the bill has reached the floor calendar in either chamber has not been confirmed in publicly available records as of May 2026. In Florida’s legislative process, a bill that has passed through committee substitutes can still stall before a full chamber vote, and differences between House and Senate versions often require a conference process before final passage. DeSantis’s vocal support adds political pressure, but the governor cannot unilaterally enact the changes; passage requires majority votes in both chambers.
What is not yet confirmed
Several important details remain unverified. No publicly available transcript, press release, or official proclamation from the governor’s office has been linked to a specific date, press conference, or event at which DeSantis renewed his push for SB 1756 during the current session. His reference to “medical freedom, similar to Senate Bill 1756” establishes a policy preference but does not by itself confirm the timing or venue of a particular statement.
The committee names and vote counts behind the two committee substitutes (CS/CS/SB 1756) have not been independently confirmed in the sources reviewed for this article. Readers who want those details should consult the Senate’s bill-tracking page directly.
Public health organizations and pediatric medical groups have historically opposed expanding vaccine exemptions, warning that looser rules can contribute to localized outbreaks of preventable diseases. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long held that school immunization requirements are among the most effective tools for preventing such outbreaks. The CDC’s school vaccination data consistently shows that states with broader exemption policies tend to have lower overall coverage rates and higher vulnerability to localized outbreaks. However, no formal position statement from any specific organization addressing SB 1756 by name has been identified in the primary sources reviewed here.
Florida’s kindergarten vaccination rate for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine stood at approximately 93% for the 2023-2024 school year, according to CDC data, below the 95% threshold that epidemiologists consider necessary for herd immunity against measles. Expanding exemptions could push that number lower, though the actual effect would depend on how many parents choose to use new opt-out options.
Supporters of the bill argue that parents, not the government, should make medical decisions for their children. DeSantis has framed the issue squarely in those terms, and the “medical freedom” label reflects a broader political movement that gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic, when vaccine mandates became a flashpoint in state and national politics.
What Florida parents need to know right now
For families preparing for the upcoming school year, the current immunization requirements remain in effect. No changes from SB 1756 apply until the bill passes both chambers, is signed by the governor, and reaches its operative effective date. Many Florida education statutes include delayed implementation schedules, meaning that even a bill signed in spring 2026 might not alter enrollment paperwork until a later school year.
Parents who want to track the bill’s progress can do so through the Florida Senate’s official legislative site and the House portal, both of which post vote tallies, amendment histories, and staff analyses. The Department of Health’s immunization laws page remains the authoritative reference for what is currently required.
School district administrators across the state are in a similar holding pattern. Until a final, enacted version of the bill exists and the Department of Health issues updated guidance, districts will continue processing enrollments under the rules already on the books. The gap between the governor’s political push and the paperwork parents fill out at the front office has not yet closed, and whether it does depends on what happens in Tallahassee in the remaining weeks of session.
Where to find the primary documents
The strongest evidence available comes directly from Florida’s legislative and executive branch records. The bill text of SB 1756, specifically the second committee substitute version, is the primary document for understanding what the “medical freedom” package would actually change. Readers who want to assess the bill’s real impact should start with that text rather than relying on characterizations from either supporters or opponents. The Department of Health’s immunization laws page serves as the authoritative reference for the rules currently in force, anchored by Section 1003.22 and Rule 64D-3.046. Any claim about what SB 1756 would “roll back” should be measured against those specific provisions.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
