ORLANDO, FL – Yesterday, the Florida House of Representatives voted 114-1 to advance a bill, HB 1299, that would prevent health care discrimination based on vaccination status and would protect patients’ rights to impartial treatment regardless of their choices. A similar bill in the Senate, SB 1270, passed last week by a vote of 4-3 in the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee and now advances to a full Senate vote.

Liberty Counsel Action urges Florida Senate legislators to support SB 1270, which would protect all people from being denied health care access based on their vaccination status or other personal health choices.

The bill would also amend and expand the “Florida Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” covering a series of issues, including: 

• prohibiting discrimination by government agencies and businesses based on personal health care choices, including vaccination status.
• prohibiting mask mandates, vaccination, and testing mandates for educational institutions.
• preserving the definition of mRNA vaccines, which is scheduled to expire, to protect against discrimination based on vaccination status regarding mRNA shots.
• requiring medical marijuana treatment centers and testing laboratories to report actual or attempted theft, loss, or diversion of medical marijuana to the Department of Health in addition to law enforcement.

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo has also urged Senate legislators to pass SB 1270, since many Florida parents cannot find a pediatrician in their area who will treat children “if they deviate at all from the vaccine schedule issued by the CDC.”

“We are in a new era. There are more people now asking questions about ‘what’s really best for my kid’ after the last few years we’ve been in,” Dr. Ladapo said. “Most of them are parents that just don’t feel like it’s appropriate or it’s in the best interest of their kid to get four vaccines in one visit.” 

Dr. Ladapo noted that people are having to do “extraordinary things,” like travel and pay out of pocket, just to see a doctor that will help them spread out vaccines because many providers will not accommodate anything “not in line” with the CDC.

Liberty Counsel Action Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Florida Senate should vote to pass SB 1270 and allow people to make the right medical choices for them and their families without fear of losing access to health care. According to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, known as VAERS, there have been 2.6 million reports of vaccine injuries and deaths in the U.S. alone. With the childhood vaccination schedule from the Centers for Disease Control consisting of 73 doses of 15 vaccines before age 18, and the rise in autism, parents need both informed consent and the freedom to make the best decisions for their families regarding what vaccines they receive and when.”

Liberty Counsel Action is a 501(c)(4), nonprofit, grassroots organization advancing religious and civil liberties, the sanctity of human life, the family, limited and responsible government, national security, and support for Israel in Washington D.C. and across America.