Gov. Ron DeSantis says people who decide not to get a COVID-19 vaccine might be making the wrong choice, but he defends their right to choose.
Speaking in Doral, DeSantis agreed Tuesday that vaccines save lives.
“There are some of those folks who may make a decision that’s not ultimately the right decision for them,” DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday in Miami-Dade. “There’s obviously probably people that have been hospitalized who probably wouldn’t have been if they had done that.”
On Monday in Alachua County, DeSantis criticized federal and local mandates for the vaccine. He threatened local governments with $5,000 fines per violation for requiring employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Several Gainesville city employees spoke with DeSantis at the event, saying government shouldn’t force them to get vaccinated.
One worker said vaccines change people’s RNA, which has led critics to say DeSantis is spreading anti-vaccine theories. But DeSantis said he doesn’t share that person's opinion.
"I think the data’s very clear on the vaccinations,″ he said. “You’re much less likely to be hospitalized or die if you’re vaccinated.”
DeSantis again said his stance on government vaccine mandates is that employees shouldn't be "deprived of their livelihood" if they don't get the shot.
“This is something we made available for all. We worked really hard, we were very successful in distributing it,” he said of the vaccines.
"But to take somebody’s job away? These are cops, these are firefighters. These people have been on the front lines for us for this whole pandemic, and if someone needed their help, whether they were COVID positive or not, these guys were on the scene.”
Information from The Florida Channel was used in this report.
