TALLAHASSEE — After the Florida Legislature gathered for a special session this week to pass bills to limit employer vaccine mandates, among other measures, and Gov. DeSantis signed them yesterday, Florida physicians gathered virtually today to call out the leaders for their publicity stunts that threaten public health.
“As a physician, it’s truly unbelievable and unconscionable that our state leaders would call a special legislative session with a primary goal of weakening vaccine mandates,” said Dr. Mona Mangat, a St. Petersburg immunologist and Board Member of the Committee to Protect Health Care. “Vaccine mandates work. We’ve seen the overwhelming majority of health care, airline, and government workers choose to take the vaccine when mandates have been implemented. But instead of working to promote vaccine availability and other measures to keep COVID-19 at bay in our state, Governor DeSantis and Republican leaders in the Legislature convened a special session to do just the opposite, wasting taxpayer dollars and risking even more lives.”
The legislation prohibits employer vaccine requirements that don’t allow certain exemptions, including for anticipated pregnancy and having previously had COVID-19. This is despite the fact that these exemptions conflict with federal vaccine mandates, and that health experts recommend both pregnant people and those who’ve had the disease get vaccinated.
It would also start the process of withdrawing the state from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which was charged with implementing the federal vaccine mandates for certain businesses.
“Apparently the Legislature feels we need to ignore the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines and develop our own at an unknown cost,” said Dr. Nancy Staats, a retired anesthesiologist and critical care physician in Jacksonville. “It’s pure political pandering. These laws also put businesses and health care institutions in a terrible spot — they now have a state law saying one thing and a federal law saying something else. The fact that hospitals can’t even mandate that the person providing you health care at your most vulnerable time is beyond ridiculous.”
The bills passed this week also further prevent schools from requiring masks and vaccinations by exposing them to legal action. As of this week, less than 2.7 percent of kids ages five through 11 have gotten the vaccine. Florida preordered fewer doses for kids than other similarly large states, including Texas.
“Governor DeSantis and lawmakers could have used this week to promote vaccines for kids, for my patients, to protect them and those around them — but instead they chose to score political points with a small faction of parents in the state who refuse to listen to the health experts,” said Dr. Jennifer Zimmerman, a Santa Rosa County pediatrician, in a statement. “As a pediatrician and a mother, this line of attacks on school safety is infuriating. As a doctor who has seen what COVID-19 can do to people, including young children, I wholeheartedly support schools being able to take action to keep students and their families safe. Threatening lawsuits against schools for taking common sense precautions will only further endanger the lives of educators and children alike, especially given the fact that Florida is lagging behind other large states in getting kids ages 5 through 11 vaccinated.”
Dr. Isaiah Cochran, a family medicine specialist in Daytona Beach, spoke to the amount of disinformation spread during the session both by supporters of the bills as well as the content of the legislation:
“Lawmakers gave conspiracy theorists a platform to promote their myths. Fringe doctors flew into town from places as far away as Hawaii to try to claim, incorrectly, that ivermectin is a cure for COVID-19. And sadly, lawmakers and the governor himself lent credence to false theories about the COVID-19 vaccine. By carving out vaccine mandate exemptions for people who’ve gotten COVID-19, leaders seem to support the false idea that those who’ve been sickened don’t need to get vaccinated. Governor DeSantis and legislators also contributed to the misconception that the vaccines can harm fertility or pregnancies, when that is false.”
About the Committee to Protect Health Care
The Committee to Protect Health Care, formerly known as the Committee to Protect Medicare, is a national mobilization of doctors, health care professionals, and advocates who are building a pro-patient health care majority in Congress and in states so that we can live in an America where everyone has the health care they need to thrive. To learn more: www.committeetoprotect.org
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