Retired physician urges Escambia school board to oppose removing mandatory vaccines

During the public forum at the December meeting, Paula Montgomery — who said she was a practicing medical doctor prior to retirement — urged the board and community to oppose any effort to discontinue mandatory vaccines.

Montgomery recounted the historical harms of vaccine-preventable diseases (measles, polio, diphtheria, typhoid) and said that mandatory vaccine policies and high immunization rates have prevented such illnesses. She warned that if immunization coverage falls below herd-immunity thresholds the community (especially young children and immunocompromised people) would be at greater risk. Montgomery said "within the last year, there have been 5 deaths from measles from the current very small outbreak which has happened in some states to the west of us." She asserted that Florida's Surgeon General was planning to discontinue mandatory vaccines and urged attendees and board members to tell legislators they do not want those laws to lapse.

The comments were delivered as public testimony; the speaker asked the board to relay concerns to legislators. The board did not engage in back-and-forth discussion during the public forum, and no board action on vaccination policy was taken at the meeting.

Status of claims made in the testimony: Montgomery's statements were delivered as public comment and were not adjudicated or verified during the meeting. The board did not confirm the specific factual claims (for example, the number of recent measles deaths or any active plan by the Florida Surgeon General) during the session.