Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has announced a proposal to permanently ban Covid-19 mandates in the state. The legislation would outlaw mask requirements and prohibit discrimination based on vaccine status, according to a press release issued this week.
The proposal includes permanently banning mask requirements throughout Florida, prohibiting vaccine and mask mandates in schools, banning Covid passports, and preventing employers from hiring or firing based on vaccine status. DeSantis said the measures are intended to protect Floridians from the “biomedical security state”.
DeSantis also aims to protect “medical freedom of speech” by safeguarding medical professionals’ right to disagree with the “preferred narrative of the medical community” and their religious views. “When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity,” he said.
Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, supported the proposal, stating that scientists and doctors should be able to engage in discourse without fear for their livelihoods. Last year, Ladapo formally recommended against Covid vaccinations for healthy children, contradicting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
In December, DeSantis petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to empanel a grand jury to investigate whether Covid vaccine manufacturers misled the public about potential side effects. The court granted the petition, and the grand jury will convene for a year.
