Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday blasted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after it voted for children to get COVID-19 vaccine shots.
During a speech to announce an executive order to provide property tax relief for residents impacted by Hurricane Ian, DeSantis didn’t mince his words to the CDC.
Regardless of what @CDCgov votes tomorrow on whether COVID-19 vax are added to routine child immunizations – nothing changes in FL.
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) October 18, 2022
Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis, COVID mandates are NOT allowed in FL, NOT pushed into schools, & I continue to recommend against them for healthy kids.
“There’s been a lot of questions out to our office about the CDC—potentially adding Covid vaccine to the childhood immunization schedule,” DeSantis said. “And I know a lot of parents are concerned about that because if that’s on the immunization schedule, the fear is that schools could potentially mandate your child to get a COVID shot, even if that’s not something that you want to do.”
“So I just want to let everyone be clear. You know, as long as I’m around and as long as I’m kicking and screaming there will be no COVID shot mandates for your kids,” he continued. “That is your decision to make as a parent.”
The Republican governor said his office has received questions about the CDC adding the vaccine and schools potentially mandating students be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I get a kick out of it when people kind of compare it to (measles, mumps, and rubella shots) and things that have been around for decades and decades,” DeSantis said. “Parents, by and large, most parents in Florida have opted against doing these booster shots, particularly for young kids.”
This comes after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday voted to add the vaccine to next year’s childhood and adult immunization schedules.
While the vote would not make the shots mandatory, many right-wing personalities made false claims that the vaccine would be required to attend school.
“The CDC is about to add the COVID vaccine to the childhood immunization schedule, which would make the vax mandatory for kids to attend school,” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson tweeted on Tuesday.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday also expressed his opposition to a potential mandatory vaccine requirement for children.
“As long as I am Governor of Missouri, I will do everything under my authority to never let the federal government mandate COVID vaccines in our schools,” Parson tweeted.
