The bishops say that some parents may still disagree, and for those parents, they “are free to choose a different educational path for their children. Catholic virtual schooling and home schooling are among them,” the bishops write.

Their vaccine policy is “rooted in the desire to protect the common good and to encourage the proportional benefits of utilizing vaccines,” the bishops write. “This position is rooted in our Catechism: ‘Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good.’”

The bishops note the vaccines not only protect healthy children, but also vulnerable groups in their schools, including children who cannot be vaccinated due to medical conditions, expectant teachers, and elderly parents and grandparents.

State context

The bishops’ stand against Uthmeier comes as Florida’s Republican leaders continue to attack life-saving vaccines and vaccination requirements. Last year, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced that the state planned to end all vaccination requirements, including those for school children. He dramatically claimed that every vaccine requirement “drips with disdain and slavery.”

On Monday, the state proposed a rule to remove requirements that children get vaccinated against chickenpox, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B, and pneumococcal to enter school. The rule would also expand religious exemptions.

The bishops’ letter highlights a fallacy often used by anti-vaccine advocates: that undermining vaccines and dismantling vaccination requirements upholds religious freedom, when in fact it can be an attack on that freedom. Just on Monday, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed weakening the wording of federal vaccine recommendations “in favor of individual autonomy and religious freedom.” Yet, no major religion in the world forbids vaccinations, and most encourage and embrace them as a common good, like the Catholic bishops.

The bishops ended their letter noting that they periodically review their vaccine policy. But they wrote that they stand firm in their rejection of religious exemptions and “will not succumb to affronts to religious freedom.”