Fact Check: Where candidates Byron Donalds and David Jolly stand on vaccines

Elections Florida Politics Miami-Dade County admin October 10, 2026 0 Comments

Fact Check: Where candidates Byron Donalds and David Jolly stand on vaccines

Vaccinations are a political hot potato in Florida, where the administration of outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis is seeking to make school vaccines optional as the country grapples with the highest number of measles cases in decades.

In Florida, some vaccines are mandated by law, such as those for polio and measles. Others are mandated by, and can be repealed by, the Florida Department of Health. Whoever becomes the next governor could help shape the future of vaccinations in the state, which, like other parts of the country, has seen a decline in childhood vaccination levels.

Here’s what to know:

Issue: Vaccines

Byron Donalds, Republican nominee

Byron Donalds has railed against vaccine mandates and indicated he supports more spread-out vaccination schedules for children, as well as DeSantis’s ongoing efforts to give parents more power over which vaccines their children get.

Donalds agrees with the DeSantis administration’s proposed rule to make four school vaccines optional, including those for hepatitis B and chickenpox. However, he’s shied away from publicly stating whether he supports repealing all school vaccines mandated under Florida law, including those for polio and measles, a decision that would need to be made by Florida’s Legislature. Instead, he says that vaccines currently mandated by state law would need to undergo “a full review” and analysis.

“When it comes to polio, MMR — those are things that we want to make sure we study and really engage in before we make those determinations and work with the Legislature before we make any of those decisions about requirements for those vaccines,” Donalds said in August during an interview with “Face the Nation.”

Donalds, who said he never took a COVID vaccine, recently faced backlash from public health experts for blaming the country’s rise in measles outbreaks on “rampant illegal immigration” during the Biden administration. Health experts say more people are getting sick due to declining vaccination rates in children, largely fueled by growing vaccine skepticism.

Donalds did choose to vaccinate his own three children, according to an interview he did on “Real Time with Bill Maher” in August.

David Jolly, Democratic nominee

David Jolly says he supports Florida’s existing school vaccine requirements and the existing vaccine exemptions families can get for religious and medical reasons.

Currently, Florida requires kids to get vaccinated against various diseases. Children need certain shots in order to attend daycare, preschool, and public, private and charter schools, although some kids can avoid getting required shots through religious and medical exemptions.

“The reason vaccines are mandated for schools is not just an individual mandate for a person, but it is for the public health,” Jolly said in an interview last year with WCJB TV20, a Gainesville TV station. “We do not want measles and other conditions, diseases, to spread throughout the state of Florida.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 10:04 AM.