By Brenda Goodman, Deidre McPhillips, CNN

(CNN) — Florida’s surgeon general said Sunday that he had not weighed the cost – in terms of infections, hospitalizations or deaths – of ending vaccine mandates in his state. But scientists who have done those calculations say those costs may be high.

Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether he had done any data analysis or projections of how many new cases of vaccine-preventable disease there would be if the mandates were lifted for everyone in Florida, including schoolchildren, as he proposed last week, Dr. Joseph Ladapo answered, “Absolutely not.”

“Do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to be able to decide what goes into their children’s bodies? I don’t need an analysis on that,” he said.

Scientists have crunched the numbers, h

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