Florida officials are plowing ahead with a proposal to roll back certain vaccine mandates for the state’s schoolchildren. That is after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the state to become the first in the nation to eliminate all school vaccination requirements. The Florida Department of Health held a public hearing on the policy change in Panama City Beach on Friday. Activists and parents opposed to the mandates heralded the importance of individual freedom. Doctors recalled the children who died of infectious diseases before the advent of vaccines. For generations, the shots have been a cornerstone of public health policy.

President Donald Trump’s push for the largest mass deportation in history has had an outsized impact on the child care field, which is heavily reliant on immigrants and already strained by a worker shortage. Immigrant child care workers and preschool teachers, the majority of whom are working and living in the U.S. legally, say they are wracked by anxiety over possible encounters with ICE officials. Some have left the field, and others have been forced out by changes to immigration policy. About one-fifth of the child care workforce is Latino, and one-fifth were born outside the United States.

Melania Trump has continued a decades-old first lady tradition of visiting with hospitalized children for the holidays. The first lady on Friday was escorted into the festively decorated atrium of Children's National hospital in Washington by two patients. She sat in a large red chair in front of a tall Christmas tree and read, “How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?” by Mac Barnett. Trump wished the nearly two dozen children in the audience lots of strength and toys from Santa before she left. She said President Donald Trump was sending “love and best wishes as well.”

Federal health officials say 39 babies in 18 states have been sickened in an infant botulism outbreak tied to contaminated formula. ByHeart recalled all of its products sold throughout the U.S. No deaths have been reported. Health officials say parents and caregivers who have the formula in their homes should stop using it immediately. Botulism is a rare but potentially deadly disease. The most recent illness was reported Nov. 19. The company has said lab tests confirmed some samples were contaminated with the bacteria that can cause the illness.

Children’s and consumer advocacy groups are urging parents not to buy AI-powered toys during the holiday season. These toys, marketed to kids as young as 2, are often powered by AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which have been shown to harm children and teenagers. Fairplay, a children’s advocacy group, warns that AI chatbots can foster obsessive use, explicit conversations, and unsafe behaviors. These toys are often marketed as educational but can disrupt children’s relationships and creativity.