FLORIDA – Missing data in a key state health report raised new questions about transparency from the Florida Department of Health.
The Vaccine Preventable Disease Report, published monthly on the department’s website, tracks illnesses such as hepatitis, pertussis (whooping cough), and varicella (chickenpox). But recent months showed a sudden and unexplained absence of public data.
The report archive typically provides monthly updates on the activity of vaccine-preventable illnesses. For example, in April 2025, the department reported an increase in hepatitis A, pertussis, and varicella cases, while meningococcal disease activity was below average.
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However, reports for May, June, July, and August 2025 are missing from the archive.
The discovery comes after Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo publicly called for an end to vaccine mandates — including those for school children.
“I think it’s much more important that parents have the right and the ability to decide what enters their children’s bodies,” Ladapo said during a recent interview.
The News4JAX I-TEAM reached out to the Florida Department of Health for clarification on the missing reports and whether the data will be available to the public in the future.
As of publication, the department has not responded.
Experts said the availability of public health data is critical for both transparency and informed decision-making, particularly during debates over public policy.
“Certainly in cases like this, where we’re talking about infectious diseases, I don’t see any reason to withhold information,” said Dr. Jonathan Kantor, an adjunct fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
“We are living in a time where information is weaponized, but having data on rates of infectious disease before and after vaccine programs is obviously very, very useful,” he said.
As for the impact of lifting vaccine mandates, Kantor said the actual health effects may be more limited than some assume.
“It’s a very small number of people, and those people could get exemptions anyway before,” he said. “To pretend that somehow having a loss of a mandate is going to have a massive impact — I don’t know if that’s really the case.”