# During a 2024 Florida measles outbreak, the surgeon general defers to parents on sending unvaccinated children to school

Date: 2024

On February 20, 2024, amid a measles outbreak at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Broward County, Florida, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo sent a letter to parents stating that the Department of Health was 'deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance' for unvaccinated children. The letter acknowledged that measles is highly contagious and that the MMR vaccine is effective, but it did not urge parents to vaccinate. The guidance contradicted CDC advice that unvaccinated children exposed to measles should stay home for about three weeks, and drew criticism from public-health experts.

## Drivers

- Vaccine hesitancy and erosion of public trust in immunization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/ph-vaccine-hesitancy

## Sources

_Sources are listed on the canonical page._

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ph-fact-ladapo-measles-letter-2024