TAMPA, Fla. – The vaccination rate of Florida kindergartners has fallen to 90%, the lowest in more than a decade, and pediatricians across the state are concerned at the significant dip. 

Although 90% may seem high, public health experts recommend a vaccination rate of at least 95%, because lower than that increases the risk of outbreaks.

“While 90% still sounds fantastic, if you think of all the children in the state of Florida, 10% of those kids not being vaccinated is quite a number,” said Dr. Rachel Dawkins, a Johns Hopkins All Children’s pediatrician. “We have seen drops in vaccination rates across the board and especially since COVID. We have a lot more people declining, things like the flu vaccine.”

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Doctors said the pandemic caused more parents to start questioning the standard shots most kids have always gotten to prevent diseases like hepatitis, measles, mumps, polio, chickenpox, among others.

“Vaccines are critically important,” Dawkins said. “I know that a lot of people feel like, ‘Why are we doing these? We don’t see these diseases,’ but we used to see a lot of these diseases, and they were prevented by vaccines and the diseases that we’re trying to prevent with vaccination can be deadly, especially in kids.”

A recent Gallup poll found 40% of Americans said it is extremely important for parents to make sure their kids are vaccinated – that’s down from 58% in 2019.

Most public schools in the Tampa Bay area require students to be vaccinated with the major shots, but Florida has a religious exemption, and data by the Department of Health shows more and more parents are using that exemption each month.   

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Dawkins encouraged parents to express concerns to their pediatrician.

“As a pediatrician, we’re here for you and your family,” Dawkins said. “We want to talk to you about your concerns. I know it seems overwhelming, and you want to protect your child. This is really the best way to protect your child from illness is to get them vaccinated.”

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SUNRISE, Fla.– Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Bill Zito announced today the 54-man roster for the Panthers 2024-25 Training Camp presented by Baptist Health.

Florida’s roster consists of 31 forwards, 16 defensemen and seven goaltenders. Click **HERE** to download the full Panthers Training Camp roster.

The Panthers will host Training Camp Fan Fest presented by Baptist Health on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale. Fans can watch the Panthers on the ice throughout the day, participate in family activities and games, interact with the Panthers mascots Stanley C. Panther and Viktor E. Ratt as well as the Florida Panthers Dance Team. The Baptist Health IcePlex will host various programming from 2-6 p.m. including public skating, free skating lessons and ‘Learn to Curl’ that will all be open to the public with pre-registration required at FTLWarMemorial.com.

Select Florida Panthers training camp practices at Baptist Health IcePlex will be free and open to the public throughout the year. Fans can check the Panthers open practice schedule at FTLWarMemorial.com/Hockey/Panthers-Open-Practices. The open practice schedule is subject to change and fans are encouraged to check this website before attending. Fans must abide by the Practice Rules & Conduct outlined therein.

Media can stay tuned for the full training camp schedule to be released separately. Fans may visit FloridaPanthers.com/Preseason for the Panthers full preseason schedule. Florida’s Sept. 22 doubleheader against Nashville at Amerant Bank Arena will feature donation-based admissions of $20 plus fees, benefitting the Florida Panthers Foundation and the growth of youth hockey in South Florida.

South Florida Scripps stations will broadcast four of the Cats preseason contests (Sept. 27 at Carolina, Sept. 28 vs. Carolina, Sept. 30 vs. Tampa Bay and Oct. 2 at Tampa Bay). All Scripps programming can be found on the Broward/Miami Dade home of the Panthers, WSFL, channel 39. In Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, fans can watch Panthers games on South Florida’s 9 (WHDT), and in Fort Myers, WFTX, channel 36.3. For complete broadcast information during the 2024-25 season, visit FloridaPanthers.com/HowToWatch.

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About Baptist Health

Baptist Health is the largest healthcare organization in the region, with 12 hospitals, more than 26,000 employees, 4,000 physicians and 100 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices spanning across Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Baptist Health has internationally renowned centers of excellence in cancer, cardiovascular care, orthopedics and sports medicine, and neurosciences. In addition, it includes Baptist Health Medical Group; Baptist Health Quality Network; and Baptist Health Care On Demand, a virtual health platform. A not-for-profit organization supported by philanthropy and committed to its faith-based charitable mission of medical excellence, Baptist Health has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America and by Ethisphere as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit BaptistHealth.net/Newsroom and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Barbara Beasley wanted nothing more than to see her role advocating on behalf of voucher-receiving families disappear this fall.

Many of them struggled last year to get repaid for the items and services they bought for their children’s homeschool education. Lawmakers intervened after hearing the complaints, implementing timelines for reimbursements and requiring the creation of updated purchasing guidelines for families and agencies to follow.

More than two months into the new voucher funding cycle, which began July 1, Beasley said the situation has worsened. Her online group of families seeking support and assistance had doubled to nearly 11,000 participants.

“The Legislature did a great job in giving families these choices,” the Longwood mom said. “But the devil is in the details.”

While families are criticizing Step Up for Students, which manages the bulk of the state’s vouchers, and the smaller AAA Scholarship Foundation, Step Up officials say they’ve been working to improve service during the state’s massive expansion project. The group anticipates more than 2 million reimbursement requests this year, up from 1.2 million last year, and said it has implemented review criteria to ensure many of the expenses are educationally appropriate.

“We have heard our families’ frustrations and are continuing to simplify our processes, increase the speed of payments, and resolve issues quickly and efficiently,” CEO Gretchen Schoenhaar said via email.

The group said just over 2% reimbursement requests for students had exceeded the 60-day deadline, with a similar amount of requests on hold. Last year, 13.6% of reimbursements were denied.

Chat rooms are filled with parents telling stories of how they submit claims based on what they understand from the guides, only to be denied for reasons they don’t understand. When they contact the help center for Step Up for Students, which manages all but a handful of the vouchers, they get placed on hold for hours before receiving what they say is confusing and sometimes contradictory advice.

Then the 60-day timeline lawmakers created to improve the repayment is reset, and they’re sent to the back of the growing line of requests.

“Just be patient. That’s what they always say,” said Christin Carlisle, who leads another online group of voucher parents.

But some families are going months without reimbursements, Carlisle said, making it difficult to impossible for many to continue the services and programs they’ve selected for their children. Many service providers have stopped taking payments directly from the voucher funding groups after last year’s troubles, which forced several to take personal loans to make ends meet, she added.

Compounding the situation, the rules keep shifting, she said. For example, she noted that in late August Step Up for Students announced it would not reimburse families for items shipped to addresses other than the one on record for the voucher recipient. That negatively impacts families that use Amazon lock boxes, live in rural areas without delivery, or travel for medical services, among others.

Making it worse, Carlisle said, families learned of the change through denied claims, not through information sent out alerting them of new rules. That has put the burden more heavily on families, she said.

“It’s not an uncommon problem right now,” said Carlisle, an Orlando mom with two children who get vouchers. “It’s very sad, and it’s very frustrating.”

Ashley Pitter of St. Augustine, whose 10-year-old daughter with autism has received a voucher for three years, said she’s encountered several problems with the system including being unable to submit claims at all for a while. Last year, she said, it took five months for her to get reimbursed $1,000 she had paid for her daughter’s therapies.

This year, it’s “new drama,” she said.

The family submitted claims for monthly internet service, an allowable expense at a student’s home address. Step Up for Students challenged the expense, she said, contending it was a duplicate request. It took four resubmissions to get the issue cleared up.

Pitter said she’s become a “squeaky wheel” to get answers and resolutions. She said that’s not easy for many families to do, especially when they’re already busy fighting for services for their children.

“There are a lot of moms who are in my position who are tired of fighting,” she said.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, is no fan of school vouchers. But she’s been fielding calls from parents inside her district and outside, seeking help with voucher reimbursements.

“Every (legislative) staff is going through this,” Eskamani said. “These are not isolated cases. This is a systemic problem. Families are suffering.”

Republican leaders said last spring they would be watching the system closely to determine whether added changes are needed.

Beasley said she has offered several ideas, such as an in-house call center comprised of trained participating parents to process the claims more intelligently and helpfully. She also proposed separating out the handling of vouchers for students with special needs, who lawmakers originally created the program for as a way to help them find more positive life outcomes.

“They could do so much better,” Beasley said.