I grew up in South Florida. My parents live in Fort Lauderdale. My sister’s in Orlando. One of my best friends just bought her first home in Pembroke Pines, a few miles from where we grew up. And thanks to the recent announcement by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo promising to end school vaccine requirements, I’m terrified for all of them.
As an infectious disease epidemiologist, I study the diseases you hear about in the news — such as COVID-19 and mpox, among others — trying to understand how viruses move within and between communities, with the goal of interrupting their spread.
Miguel I. Paredes is an MD-Ph.D. student at the University of Washington. (courtesy, Miguel I. Paredes)
Often, the answer for stopping them is simple: vaccination. There is no public health tool that is more effective and more well-studied. With vaccines, we have eliminated smallpox and have defanged life-threatening viruses so that they’re no stronger than the common cold. Vaccines save lives. They keep families together. They keep my family safe.
One of my closest friends, in addition to recently buying a home close to where we grew up, is also expecting her first baby — a boy! While I’m so excited to be a tío, I’m also scared for her and her son.
A recent study published in the Lancet estimated that since 1974, vaccination has averted over 146 million deaths among children younger than 5 years. The study finds that in 2024, thanks to vaccines, a child younger than 10 years is 40% more likely to survive to their next birthday.
We have already seen the impact of lower vaccination rates. This year, we have seen over 760 cases of measles in Texas, with the death of two school-aged children. Just last month, we heard of a baby in the United Kingdom who died from pertussis, also known as the whooping cough.
The death of a child is always heartwrenching; what makes it worse is that it was preventable. The MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, and the TDaP vaccine, which protects against pertussis, are 97% and greater than 70% effective at preventing illness, respectively.
Vaccines do more than just protect the person receiving it; they also protect their loved ones. This protection happens through two main mechanisms: by directly reducing the risk that a vaccinated person will transmit the virus after being infected and, when enough people in the community are vaccinated, by surrounding vulnerable folks with enough people who are immune that the virus cannot transmit further. The latter is called “herd immunity” and often protects those who are medically vulnerable.
My parents are in their 60s, and while they’d hate me for sharing this, they’re getting a bit older. Every time they get a cough, I get worried; the risk of hospitalization from a respiratory virus increases as people age.
But vaccines are working overtime to protect them. Not only do they get their annual influenza and COVID-19 boosters, but also vaccine requirements for school-aged children have been shown to protect people aged 50 and older from infection, including from influenza and pneumococcus, both causes of live-threatening pneumonia in older folks.
But the recent announcement by DeSantis and Ladapo threatens the shield around my parents. Without the school vaccination requirements, not only do we risk deadly but preventable diseases affecting children, but their teachers, parents, grandparents and other loved ones who care for them will also be more at risk.
Maintaining childhood vaccination requirements is even more vital now as the federal government’s shifting vaccination policies make access to vaccines more difficult. Pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens have limited access to the COVID-19 vaccine after the FDA changed the eligibility recommendations. These limits are affecting dozens of states, including Florida, where my parents have been unable to schedule their COVID-19 booster in preparation for the winter.
I know there are, and always have been, objections to vaccinations — religious, political, personal or otherwise. Vaccines are not without their rare risks and side effects that would worry any parent. But the science is clear: Vaccine requirements keep my family — and yours — safe. Don’t take that away.
Miguel I. Paredes is an MD-Ph.D. student at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Find him on Bluesky @paredesmig.
