One point of contention between President Joe Biden (D) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has been the President’s vaccine mandate. DeSantis has made it clear that Florida will not take part in implementing vaccine passports, mask mandates or vaccine mandates, and the position has angered the President.
In a new development in the rivalry between both political figures, the Florida Governor launched another salvo of barbs at President Biden, calling his vaccine mandate unconstitutional and accusing Biden of being “divisive.”
Holding a press conference in Naples on the Job Growth Grant Fund, Governor DeSantis commented on the “divisive” nature of the conversation regarding vaccine mandates.
“You are trying to take people’s jobs away over this,” DeSantis said, adding that “you are trying to plunge people into destitution.” “You are taking away their livelihoods,” he added, accusing the President of “being divisive about this.”
In tracking COVID-19 cases in South Florida, the positivity rate has dropped for an 8th straight week. According to a report from the Department of Health, the total cases “dropped by 23% week-to-week in Broward, 20.5% in Miami-Dade and 18% in Palm Beach County.
While the Governor has encouraged Floridians to receive the vaccine, he has not implemented a vaccine mandate because “no one should lose their job over these shots.”
In the conversation, the Governor affirmed that the state wants “to protect people’s jobs” because “these are folks that have been working throughout this whole time” and “they were put in situations where they were exposing themselves… knowingly to help others, and they did that, and we considered them heroes just a year ago.”
However, “now you’re going to let them go by the wayside,” questioned the President.
After imposing the requirement of showing proof of vaccination, the Florida Department of Health issued a fine of $3.5 million to Leon County.
