TAMPA BAY — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the creation of the Florida MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Commission onstage in Tampa Bay, named the commission’s co-chairs and said the state will continue to push policies he described as protecting ‘‘medical freedom,’’ including Department of Health action to remove vaccine mandates.

The commission will be chaired by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, DeSantis said, and will include Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and agency leaders including Agency for Health Care Administration secretary Siobhan Harris, Department of Children and Families secretary Taylor Hatch, Department of Elder Affairs secretary Michelle Branham and Department of Environmental Protection secretary Alexis Lambert. DeSantis said the commission will recommend state-level policies based on principles including "individual medical freedom, informed consent, parent rights, and market innovation." "Informed consent is the touchstone, for everything that that goes on in this area of American life," DeSantis said.

Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said the Department of Health will begin a rulemaking process to remove existing departmental vaccine requirements and pursue additional changes. "All of them. Every last one of them," Ladapo said when describing the Department’s intention to end vaccine mandates in rule and work with the legislature on statutory changes. He told the audience that several immunization requirements in Department rules would be removed through administrative action and that any remaining changes beyond agency authority would require legislation.

First Lady Casey DeSantis framed the commission as part of a broader effort to provide more transparency to families about nutrition and pharmaceuticals and to expand parents’ authority to make medical decisions for minor children. "You have the right to know what is being put in [your children]," she said, describing plans to examine food ingredients, chronic disease prevention and alternative health approaches. Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins and Education Commissioner Stasi Kamutsis reiterated support for parental rights and said the commission will coordinate across agencies.

DeSantis and Ladapo tied the announcement to policies the governor enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic: opening schools for in-person instruction, banning vaccine passports, issuing an executive order restricting mask mandates in schools and pushing legislature-passed "Parents' Bill of Rights." DeSantis described those earlier actions as the foundation for the commission and said the state will seek to make some protections permanent through the legislature.

The governor and surgeon general framed the commission’s objectives broadly: increase transparency and accountability in health care, promote ‘‘clean, safe, and nutritious food,’’ address drivers of chronic disease and ‘‘restore trust in the medical profession and public health.’’ DeSantis said the group will prioritize reducing regulatory burdens he calls unnecessary and creating incentives for healthy living and market innovation.

The announcement did not include a legislative vote or an enacted statutory change; DeSantis and Ladapo described administrative steps the Department of Health can take and said they will work with the Florida Legislature on laws the agency cannot change by rule. DeSantis said the Department had previously used rulemaking to add certain immunization requirements and that those additions can be rolled back by the Department; he said he expects the Department to remove "a handful, maybe a half dozen" vaccines from agency rules.

The governor and the first lady described the initiative as statewide in scope and aimed at parents, students and families. DeSantis and other speakers repeatedly tied the commission’s work to their view that medical decisions should be made by individuals and families rather than by government or private-sector mandates. "Nobody in the state of Florida should ever have to choose between a job they need and a shot they don't want," DeSantis said, referencing earlier employment nondiscrimination protections his office supported.

DeSantis and Ladapo did not provide a legislative timetable or dollar amounts for the commission’s work. They described the commission as a working group that will produce recommendations to state leaders and agencies. The announcements prompted questions from reporters about whether the administration has consulted legislative leaders; DeSantis said the surgeon general would work with lawmakers and that some changes will require statutes.

The comments at this event are an administrative policy announcement and expressions of intent. Any formal repeal or statutory change to immunization law would require action by the Florida Legislature or a formal rulemaking record by the Department of Health.