AMNA NAWAZ: Health officials in Florida released more details about how they're moving to end many school vaccination mandates.

Public health experts are worried about the impact on children in the state and whether other states may follow.

William Brangham has that story.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, yesterday's announcement came days after Florida's surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, said the state would be the first to ban all vaccine requirements.

This new policy for schoolchildren won't take effect for about 90 days, and it would end the requirement that kids are inoculated against diseases like hepatitis B, chicken pox, influenza, and meningitis.

The state legislature could take it further and consider removing requirements for measles and polio as well.

In announcing the change last week, Dr. Ladapo spoke out against vaccine mandates, saying it was a matter of personal freedom.

DR. JOSEPH LADAPO, Florida Surgeon General: Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery, OK?

Who am I as a government or anyone else or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Doctors in Florida are warning this change could put children and their communities at risk.

One of those is Dr. Mona Amin.

She's a pediatrician in Florida and host of "PedsDoc" podcast.

For the record, we invited Dr. Ladapo on the show, but he declined our request.

Dr. Amin, thank you so much for being here.

When you first heard the surgeon general's comments specifically linking vaccine mandates to slavery, what was your reaction?

DR. MONA AMIN, Host, "PedsDocTalk": Oh, thank you for having me.

The reaction was swift and feeling disheartening, demoralizing and frustrating.

One, the comparison with vaccine mandates and slavery is not founded.

Obviously, vaccine mandates are there for a reason, to protect people, when -- we can go into a whole other tangent on slavery -- was not the same situation.

And as a pediatrician who spends so much time educating the public and my community about the importance of vaccine programs and vaccination, it was very disheartening to hear someone on a large public platform say that this is something that is not going to happen in our state at a time when we see measles outbreaks, at a time when we are seeing the rise of pertussis cases around the world.

And so, as a mother myself, I felt concerned not only for my patients, but for other mothers who want to protect their children and are now hearing this reality may become true in 90 days or more.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What are the public health implications here?

Because, as I'm sure you have heard, there are many people who do believe that the mandates are onerous.

They may not themselves be anti-vaccine, but they think that the government telling you, you have to have it in order to go to school or go to work is too much.

So what will be, in your view, the impact of this?

DR. MONA AMIN: So we have to understand that, in public health, public health is looking out for exactly that, the public's health.

So a lot of the policy here is looking out for the greater good.

So an example here is that we can say, well, I'm going to drive and drink at the same time, right?

So I'm going to get behind the wheel.

It's my body, my choice, my car.

Yet doing so is going to put other people on that road at risk.

So there has to be guardrails here.

Same thing for vaccine mandates.

If we are going to be going into a public school system or even a private school system where children are in enclosed spaces, where respiratory viruses and bacteria can spread, the things that we prevent with vaccine-preventable illnesses, we are putting each other at risk.

So, the risk here is that we are going to bring home these illnesses to the unvaccinated children.

And also remember that even children who are fully vaccinated, vaccines are not 100 percent.

So that small risk that they can get the virus or bacteria and, more importantly, that they can bring it home to newborns, immunocompromised family members, grandpa and grandma, who may have weaker immune systems.

So we are going to see a trickle effect that not only impacts the children who are in the school system, but the teachers and the communities.

That is why public health measures are in place, that we could start to see more viruses, more bacteria and more hospitalizations and more of a public health crisis here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: States do allow medical exemptions.

Parents can sign these forms to say, I don't want my child vaccinated for these reasons.

Other states offer religious exemptions.

You do believe, though, that eliminating these mandates will lead to more outbreaks for sure?

DR. MONA AMIN: There is a high likelihood.

Of course, we cannot predict the future, but I would like to use the measles outbreak as an example.

So in order for there to be immunity in a community, there has to be 95 percent of the community has to be vaccinated or immune to measles.

Now in Florida, the vaccination rate for kindergartners right now is under 90 percent, around 89 percent.

So, now if we remove these mandates, that could mean less people getting vaccinated.

Right now, in the state of Florida for a child to enter a school system, they have to get vaccinated.

I see those children come into my office and means a higher vaccine rate.

But now, if we remove those mandates, those vaccine rates could reduce, which means a virus like measles can have a more likelihood of spread.

So we are going to see this.

The degree to which is hard to know, depending on the vaccine status in a community, but it is a high-risk situation that we want to avoid as much as possible.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What do you do in your own practice?

When a mother or a father with their children come to your office and say, I have heard these suspicions being cast about vaccines, how do you counsel them?

DR. MONA AMIN: I think it's important to lead with curiosity.

So I ask them where they got that information and what they feel about that information.

And I guide with facts, what we see clinically and what we see by the evidence.

And hopefully, with that, they can come around and understand the importance of vaccination, I, as a pediatrician, vaccinate my own two children on schedule, and why I do that, and so that we can hopefully make this idea that the Florida surgeon general has not a reality by advocating for the importance of vaccination and calling our legislators, so that they know the importance as well.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Dr. Mona Amin, Florida pediatrician, thank you so much for being here.

DR. MONA AMIN: Thank you for having me.