Proposal would allow adults to get ivermectin without prescriptions

Pharmacists would be allowed to provide ivermectin without a prescription. Access would cover people age 18 or older. Prescriber protections would cover medical, osteopathic, and nursing professionals whose licenses allow prescribing. Pharmacists would give written information about uses, reasons to avoid the drug, dosage, and the need for follow-up care from a primary care doctor. Covered prescribers would be protected from civil and criminal liability and professional discipline when acting in good faith and following care standards and practice rules. Pharmacists would receive those protections when acting in good faith and following the dispensing requirements. The proposed start date was July 1, 2026. Access through pharmacists, with medicine kept behind the counter, would last until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves over-the-counter sales.

Parents would submit a state form to their child’s school stating that vaccination conflicts with their religion or conscience. The exemption would cover school vaccination requirements. The outbreak provisions would cover Florida public and private schools. Florida’s Department of Health would post the exemption form online and prominently link to current federal vaccine information. Downloaded forms would include vaccine materials approved by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine once those boards adopt their joint rule. During a declared school disease emergency, students not vaccinated against that disease would be excluded until the county health department director or administrator declares the emergency ended. The proposed general start date was July 1, 2026. Bundling vaccine materials with the exemption form would begin when the medical boards adopt their joint rule.

Vaccine providers would give parents information and obtain a signature acknowledging receipt before vaccinating a child. These requirements would cover vaccinations of minor children, with information given to a parent or guardian. Authorized health care practitioners and covered paramedics would provide current federal vaccine information and materials approved by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine. Health care practitioners would discuss timing options before giving the first of multiple vaccines. At a parent’s or guardian’s request, practitioners could spread vaccinations across visits; they would not be required to do so. Information and signature requirements would start July 1, 2026, or 30 days after the medical boards adopt their joint rule, whichever is later. The boards would adopt that rule within 120 days of enactment. Timing discussions would start July 1, 2026.

Vaccine manufacturers could not offer or pay specified rewards for giving vaccines, and health care practitioners could not accept them. The covered rewards would be commissions, bonuses, kickbacks, and rebates from vaccine manufacturers for administering vaccines. The prohibition would cover direct and indirect rewards, whether openly or secretly given, in cash or other forms. Violations would carry penalties under Florida’s patient-brokering law, which addresses improper payments tied to patient care. The proposed start date was July 1, 2026.

The State Health Officer’s emergency treatment powers would exclude ordering vaccination. The authority limit would cover emergencies involving communicable diseases that cause serious illness or death and pose a severe public health danger. The vaccination limit would apply to the State Health Officer’s authority to treat people or order treatment during a public health emergency. The proposal would also cancel the scheduled repeal of the legal definition of a messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccine. The proposed start date was July 1, 2026.