In Panama City on Friday, state officials heard arguments for and against potential revisions to Florida Administrative Code Rule 64D-3.046.

Proposed changes, which are backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, include expanding opt-out provisions to include religious exemptions for personal and philosophical reasons, and removal of requirements to vaccinate for Varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and Hepatitis B (Hep B) for schools as well as Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV15/20) for day care students.

Arguments abounded both to eliminate mandates and to protect the current requirements.

Susan Sweetin of the National Vaccine Information Center, appearing in her personal capacity, fought back tears as she said she was coerced into having her son get the Hep B vaccine, or else his pediatrician wouldn’t see him.

Cynthia Smith, a nurse, said she suffered hearing loss from childhood vaccines that impacted her work in school as a child and now in professional environments.

“This is not about being anti-medicine,” Smith said, arguing for “medical freedom.”

Larry Downs Jr. argued against MMR vaccines, saying that there’s no “measles outbreak” in America, as he said people don’t need a “permission slip from Big Daddy Government” to shun shots.

“What about the measles outbreak? How many (outbreaks) come from these shots from these injections? This is nonsense. The default setting should be freedom. You should not have to get a religious or personal objection,” Downs said.

Rick Frey attributed two of his child relatives’ “non-verbal” states to vaccines before attacking pediatricians.

“It’s obviously about freedom, but it’s also about the children that these pediatricians damage because they get paid to vaccinate these kids. And they’re here being paid, and they’re here to ensure that they’ll still make their money to get their bonus, to do this stuff. It’s just wrong on so many levels, and the smug way that they sit back there and act like they’re above all of us makes me want to throw up, to be honest with you,” Frey said.

Michelle Posey, a School Board candidate in Sarasota who also leads the local Turning Point USA chapter, said she didn’t want either side “demonizing” the other before expressing her own concerns.

“I have never, in my life, known of a product that is both safe and effective, and a miracle worker, and yet it requires a marketing campaign, a marketing blitz, immunity for those that build it, and some kind of incentive for those who inject it,” Posey said, arguing against mandates.

Dr. Frederick S Southwick, an Infectious Disease Specialist with decades of experience, spoke to the impact of bacterial meningitis.

“If you are ending that vaccine, it’s going to cause tremendous damage and cost the state $50 to $80 million,” he said.

Danielle Carter, the President of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, argued that scientific evidence didn’t support the removal of vaccines, that they have reduced infections while facilitating “herd immunity.”

Joseph Harmon, representing the Conference of Catholic Bishops, criticized the proposed rule as “an improper expansion of what’s allowed by statute” and advocated no change.

Lewis Jennings spoke for NAACP chapters around the state when he condemned the proposal as a “direct threat to public health, equity, and civil rights.”

Jamie Schanbaum, who survived meningitis, described the consequences of the disease over the last 17 years since she had it.

“I’ve accumulated millions of dollars in hospital bills, months of physical therapy, and occupational therapy, not to mention I had my leg re-amputated last year. That was a good time. How about re-learning to use my hands, feed myself, wipe myself? This is the reality of what it’s like to survive something like this. And if I want to go and do any sport, I have to pay $30,000 just for the legs.”