Support Florida Legislation That Brings Transparency to Sudden Childhood and Youth Death Investigations!

Florida lawmakers are considering critical legislation that would improve the accuracy, transparency, and completeness of death investigations involving infants, children, and young people.

SB 188 requires medical examiners to include vaccination information in autopsy reports for cases involving Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID), Sudden Death in the Young (SDY), and Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). The bill also requires these cases to be reported to the national SUID and SDY Case Registry.

Currently, vaccine history is not consistently reviewed or documented in autopsy reports—even in cases where the cause of death is unexplained. As a result, critical health data may be missing from death investigations.

SB 188 does not presume causation. Instead, it ensures that medical examiners conduct thorough, standardized investigations and document all relevant medical information—including recent vaccinations.

The bill also establishes reporting requirements and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance, while explicitly affirming that these disclosures are permitted under state and federal medical privacy laws.

SB 188 has been referred to the Florida Senate Health Policy Committee, the Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee, and the Fiscal Policy Committee.

Please act TODAY.

TAKE ACTION

Contact your Florida State Senator and urge them to SUPPORT SB 188.

Find your Florida legislators here:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators

Phone calls are most effective, but emails help too.

SAMPLE SCRIPT

“Hello, my name is ___ and I’m a constituent. I’m calling to urge you to SUPPORT SB 188.

This bill ensures that sudden and unexplained deaths of infants, children, and young people are investigated more thoroughly and transparently.

SB 188 requires medical examiners to include recent vaccination history in autopsy reports and report these cases to the national registry.

Including vaccine history in medical and death investigations is essential to help determine whether a vaccine injury occurred and to help the family’s ability to seek compensation through the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Please support SB 188 and help improve transparency, accountability, and trust in death investigations.

Thank you.”

TALKING POINTS

Accurate determination of vaccine injury is essential for compensation. To file a claim with the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, an individual (or a child’s parent/guardian) must demonstrate that a covered vaccine was received and that the injury either appears on the official Vaccine Injury Table within specified timeframes or was caused by the vaccine, and must do so within strict filing deadlines. Complete and precise information in medical records—including vaccination history and timing relative to the onset of symptoms—is critical to substantiating a petition and accessing compensation.

Vaccine injury and deaths are real and not rare. As of 1/2/2026, there were 2,704,889 adverse events and 50,287 deaths reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).

Incomplete data undermines public health. When vaccine history is excluded from autopsy reports, health officials lose critical information needed to understand patterns in sudden deaths.

SB 188 does not claim vaccines cause death; it simply ensures relevant medical history is documented and available for analysis.

Families deserve honest answers. Parents who lose a child to unexplained death should not be denied access to complete investigative findings.

Medical examiners need protection, not pressure. SB 188 establishes clear legal protections for examiners who document vaccine information from professional retaliation.

Transparency builds trust. Public confidence in medicine and public health depends on open, comprehensive investigations—not selective data collection.

Young lives deserve rigorous investigation. Sudden deaths in infants and youth demand the highest standard of review, especially when causes remain unexplained.