Desantis wants his ban of COVID vaccine and mask mandates made permanent
Touting his efforts to keep Florida’s economy open during the COVID-19 pandemic by banning mask and vaccine mandates, Gov. Ron Desantis said Tuesday he wants lawmakers to make those measures permanent, calling them a “prescription for freedom.”
He said such mandates would have denied people from earning a living, prevented parents from sending their children to school, discriminated against people based on their vaccine status and silenced doctors.
“We believe there’s no turning back from our direction,” Desantis said during an hourlong rally in Panama City Beach packed with supporters. “We need to lead with this by making all of these protections permanent in the Florida statutes, which we are going to do in the upcoming legislative session.”
His push comes as Florida had the 13th highest death rate in the nation as of January, with 392 deaths per 100,000 people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Overall, more than 84,000 Floridians have died of COVID, the CDC said.
Florida also had one of the lowest bivalent booster rates in the country, with less than 10% of the population having received the latest dose targeting the Omicron variant, the CDC reported.
“What we witnessed today is that he’s become the number one peddler of a dangerous message from the anti-vax establishment,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa said in response to the governor’s comments. “It is a fake ideology with real consequences.”
After initially locking down the state for almost a month and supporting the vaccine for the elderly, Desantis did a 180-degree turn on pandemic policies. He challenged businesses, resorts, airlines and the cruise industry over mask and vaccine requirements by issuing executive orders banning mandates.
He also went on the attack against school districts and local governments that imposed mask mandates.
And he signed two bills into law that came out of a special session in November 2021 to punish businesses that require vaccines and masks. They expire in July.