DeSantis Wants To ‘Take The Politics Out Of’ Coronavirus Vaccine

FLORIDA — Gov. Ron DeSantis said the coronavirus vaccine is “the first vaccine that has really been politicized” at Pres. Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed summit at the White House on Tuesday. He also criticized any “bad messaging” being spread about the vaccine, calling it “problematic.”

DeSantis, joined by Louisiana’s Gov. John Bel Edwards, Texas’ Gov. Greg Abbott and Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee, was one of four governors to speak at the summit.

His comments came ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory group, which will determine whether Pfizer’s two-dose coronavirus vaccine will be approved. The FDA published documents on Tuesday that indicate the vaccine offers strong protection against COVID-19 within 10 days of the first dose, according to the New York Times. Moderna has also developed a coronavirus vaccine that is expected to be approved by the FDA this month.

At Tuesday’s summit, DeSantis said that “not threatening to mandate (the vaccine) helps” diffuse its politicization.

“We think it’s important, but obviously, you make the decision," he said.

He also criticized state shutdowns and school closures during the pandemic, calling them “totally unscientific” and said that they affect people’s opinions about the vaccine. While governors of other states have expressed hesitancy over the vaccine, he “really wanted to embrace” it, he added.

“I hope we can get on the same page here, take the politics out of it, be very consistent, be evidence based on it and I think people will respond positively,” DeSantis said.

During the summit, he also rehashed Florida’s coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. Among the first to be vaccinated in the state will be residents of long-term health care facilities, frontline health care workers and seniors older than 65. In fact, he said all residents and employees of Florida’s 4,000 nursing homes will be vaccinated by the end of December.

“Basically, we did our vaccination plan to flow out of our normal mitigation plan in terms of we focused on protecting vulnerable populations,” DeSantis said

He’s hopeful a third vaccine, a single-dose vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, will be approved by January. At that point, it will likely be produced at a larger scale and offered to a broader population “so teachers can get it, law enforcement can get it and really, hopefully, we would have enough for anyone who wants to do it,” he said.

Most Floridians who responded to a recent Patch survey said they plan to get vaccinated once it’s approved by the FDA. More than 1,400 people responded to the online survey last week, offering a broad idea of public sentiment regarding the vaccine.

Nearly 82 percent of those who responded said they'd get the vaccine, but there was some question about when they'd get it. More than half – around 56 percent – said they'd get vaccinated as soon as they were allowed to do so. Another 25 percent of respondents said they'd wait to see how safe and effective the vaccines are.

Florida is one of only three states with more than 1 million total cases. The state’s Department of Health reported 7,842 new cases for Monday, bringing the total number of cases in Florida to 1,073,770 as of Tuesday evening.