As we approach the Fourth of July weekend, the Florida Democratic Party is calling out Gov. DeSantis for his failure to put politics aside and get Florida vaccinated. Currently, only 61% of adult Floridians have received at least one vaccine, well below President Biden’s goal of having 70 percent of adults with at least one shot by July 4th.
“Governor DeSantis has failed Florida at every stage of this pandemic, and now he has let down Floridians once again by failing to effectively lead efforts to get our state fully vaccinated. Instead of ramping up vaccine distribution when President Biden passed the American Rescue Plan, Gov. DeSantis politicized the rollout process, contradicted public health experts, and did little to combat the vaccine hesitancy he helped sow. Florida voters won’t soon forget that Gov. DeSantis put politics over our health and safety, and blocked meaningful progress on the number one issue on Floridians’ minds,” said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Marcus Dixon.
Background on Gov. DeSantis’s failures on vaccinating Floridians:
- Gov. DeSantis’s handling of the pandemic has been characterized by downplaying the virus and covering up evidence of his poor response. According to reports, Gov. DeSantis “influenced a state administration that ‘suppressed unfavorable facts, dispensed dangerous misinformation, dismissed public health professionals, and promoted the views of scientific dissenters’ who supported the governor’s ambivalent approach to the disease.”
- Florida’s vaccine rollout was marred by allegations that Gov. DeSantis was prioritizing politics over efficiency. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Gov. DeSantis sought to provide special access to COVID-19 vaccines for residents in certain well-off neighborhoods.
- Gov. DeSantis bucked the trend of other governors and did not get his covid-19 vaccine publicly to reduce vaccine hesitancy.