Florida · Vaccine Policy
“Fill the Room”: The Surgeon General’s Wife and Florida’s Vaccine Hearing
Two days before a state rulemaking hearing on dropping four school and child-care vaccine requirements, Brianna Ladapo posted a campaign-style poster of her husband, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, urging supporters to show up, fill the room, and stay for pictures with him and his team.
The post
At 5:45 a.m. on 6 October 2026, Brianna Ladapo posted an appeal on X addressed to “fellow warriors.” It asked readers to attend the Florida Department of Health’s public hearing that Thursday on removing school and child-care entry requirements for hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), varicella and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. When it was captured on 18 October it showed about 16,000 views. It tagged Children’s Health Defense Florida first, followed by nine other accounts.
The text cast the Florida chapters of the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics as trying to stop her “courageous husband,” and urged that the voices of justice be louder than “the voices of oppression and control.” It tied the timing to the governor’s race, calling the hearing “likely our last chance” with the election a month away. It closed with an offer to meet “Joe and his team” afterward to thank them personally and take pictures.
The attached poster reads like campaign material. An American flag fills the background, and Ladapo stands on stage smiling with a microphone. The slogans read “He stood up for our families. Now let’s stand with him,” “Show up for medical freedom” and “If not now, when?” Beneath them, in smaller type, is the event being promoted: a Florida Department of Health public hearing, with an invitation to stay afterward to thank Dr. Ladapo and his team in person.
The hearing she was promoting
- What
- Public hearing on proposed revisions to Rule 64D-3.046, Florida Administrative Code (school and child-care immunization requirements).
- When and where
- Thursday 8 October 2026, 9 a.m. to noon, Orlando Marriott Lake Mary.
- What would change
- Hepatitis B, varicella, Hib and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines would no longer be required for school or child-care entry. Requirements for polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella, pertussis, mumps and tetanus are set in state statute (s. 1003.22) and stay in place.
- Why there was a hearing at all
- The Florida chapters of the ACP and AAP requested one within the 21-day window that rulemaking allows.
- Status
- The department says the hearing is one step in rulemaking, not final adoption. As of mid-October it had not announced when it would file the rule for adoption, and no effective date had been set.
Four things the post shows
1. A family member mobilizing supporters for an official proceeding. The Surgeon General’s department ran the hearing, and the Surgeon General’s wife recruited a crowd for it. The poster folds department staff into a photo opportunity. Nothing here is known to be unlawful. The point is the blurring of roles: a formal rulemaking hearing, which exists to receive public comment, was marketed as a show of support for one official.
2. An explicitly electoral frame for a public health rule. The department’s own account describes the change as aligning its rule with state statute. The post describes it as a last chance before the gubernatorial election. Those are different stories about the same rule.
3. Physicians’ groups using the process as “oppression.” The ACP and AAP did not obstruct anything. They asked for the hearing that the rulemaking process provides for. The post calls that request “oppression and control.”
4. Children’s Health Defense Florida, tagged first. Tagging shows she wanted that audience. It does not show CHD co-organized the turnout, and this page does not claim it did. CHD’s own outlet did cover the hearing, and a volunteer with its Florida chapter told it she still hopes Ladapo will work toward ending all vaccine mandates.
What Ladapo said at the hearing
The post framed attendance as a stand for “informed consent” and “individualized medical decision-making.” At the hearing, Ladapo himself told the crowd the rule change isn’t about the scientific effectiveness of one vaccine or the other
and that it was about parents’ right to decide. The same account was published by CHD’s own outlet, a source sympathetic to him.
The legislative route had already failed. Governor DeSantis and Ladapo asked the legislature to change state law, but according to CBS News, no legislator filed a bill in any 2026 session. The rule change covers only the four vaccines the department can drop without the legislature.
A paediatric note on the four vaccines
These are not interchangeable with the statutory list. In Florida, the Hib and pneumococcal requirements apply to child care and preschool rather than K-12. Those are the ages when invasive Hib and pneumococcal disease, including meningitis, does its damage. Hepatitis B acquired early in life is far more likely to become chronic than infection acquired later. Coverage was already slipping: Florida’s kindergarten MMR coverage was 88.8% in 2024–25, below the roughly 95% needed to prevent measles outbreaks.
Who is Brianna Ladapo?
On her own website, Brianna Ladapo describes herself as “ND, CHC, DAIS,” an energetic healer, coach, author and speaker. Her media page lists appearances including an Instagram discussion hosted on Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s account. In October 2025 Mother Jones published a long account of the couple’s turn toward mysticism, drawn largely from her memoir, Emerging from Darkness. It describes a healer’s week-long treatment of her husband, and her view that even children choose the harm they experience.
Open question
Her website does not say where the “ND” credential was earned or whether it is a licence. Florida has not issued new naturopathic licences for decades. Until that is answered, this page records the credential only as she presents it.
Why a Canadian site is watching
No Canadian province has followed Florida, and NACI continues to set Canadian recommendations independently. The Florida playbook is the one to recognize: recast a public health rule as “medical freedom,” treat physicians’ groups as the enemy, and fill the room. Canadian groups have run the same play at school boards and in letters to provincial officials. Pressure campaigns of this kind are covered on our Action4Canada and Vaccine Choice Canada page.
Related on QuackeryWatch
Sources
- Brianna Ladapo, post on X, 6 October 2026, 5:45 a.m. (screenshot captured 18 October 2026; archived by QuackeryWatch).
- Florida Department of Health, “Florida Department of Health Holds Public Hearing on Proposed Revisions to School Immunization Rule,” 8 October 2026. floridahealth.gov
- Florida Department of Health, Rule Hearing 64D-3.046 agenda and meeting materials. floridahealth.gov (PDF)
- ClickOrlando, “Activists, doctors clash over vaccine repeal proposal at Florida health panel hearing,” 8 October 2026. clickorlando.com
- Creative Loafing Tampa, “Health professionals urge Florida to reconsider repealing vaccine requirements for school children.” cltampa.com
- The Defender (Children’s Health Defense), “Florida Parents, Doctors Clash Over Plan to Drop 4 Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren.” childrenshealthdefense.org
- Rebekah Ricks, “Florida’s Vaccine Fight Isn’t Over.” Substack
- MedicalDaily, “Florida Sets October 8 Lake Mary Hearing on Dropping Chickenpox, Hepatitis B and Two Other School Vaccine Requirements.” medicaldaily.com
- MedicalDaily, “Florida Plan to Drop Hepatitis B, Chickenpox, Hib, and Pneumococcal School Vaccine Rules Draws Doctors’ Warnings.” medicaldaily.com
- Mother Jones, “From Medicine to Mysticism: The Radicalization of Florida’s Top Doc,” October 2025. motherjones.com
- Brianna Ladapo, official website and media page. briannaladapo.com