By Brad Brooks, Helen Coster and Julia Harte

(Reuters) -Just one day after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his plan to stop requiring vaccines for grade-school children and others, the needed approval by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature is already showing signs of a heated battle to come.

DeSantis’ surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, who joined the governor in announcing on Wednesday the plan to scrap all vaccine mandates, said quite simply of what will be before lawmakers: “People are going to have to choose a side.”

On the opposite side of the aisle the state’s Senate Democratic leader, Lori Berman, said she will fight to “protect our kids from these reckless attempts to harm them.”

DeSantis’ action comes amid a controversial national debate, often led by U.S. Health

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