Headline Roundup • January 18th, 2023
DeSantis Proposes Permanently Banning Mandates on COVID-19 Vaccine, Masks
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday proposed permanently banning COVID-19 mask mandates and vaccine requirements in the state.
Key Quotes: "It required us over the past few years to stand against major institutions in our society: The bureaucracy, the medical establishment, legacy media and even the President of the United States who, together, were working to impose a biomedical security state on society." DeSantis said while speaking in Panama City Beach. "When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedom's linchpin. These measures will ensure Florida remains this way and will provide landmark protections for free speech for medical practitioners."
For Context: DeSantis enacted a ban on vaccine mandates in late 2021. With it set to expire in June, he's now seeking to preserve it. DeSantis has been a frequent critic of many COVID-19 public health policies, and in December, he asked Florida's Supreme Court to approve an investigation into "any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to Covid-19 vaccines." The court approved his request.
How the Media Covered It: The proposal was a top story from news sources across the spectrum. CNN highlighted how DeSantis has frequently opposed Biden administration COVID-19 rules. Fox News highlighted how "DeSantis asserted that those under 40 who get booster shots are more at risk from boosters than they are from COVID-19."
Featured Coverage of this Story
Ron DeSantis via Twitter
Gov. Ron DeSantis says he's seeking to protect Florida from the "biomedical security state," by permanently banning COVID-19 vaccines and masks.
"It required us over the past few years to stand against major institutions in our society: The bureaucracy, the medical establishment, legacy media and even the President of the United States who, together, were working to impose a biomedical security state on society." DeSantis said while speaking at the Todd Herendeen Theater in Panama City Beach.
If approved by lawmakers, DeSantis' efforts will permanently restrict the COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mask rules in...
Octavio Jones/Getty Images
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced a policy proposal banning many pandemic mitigation efforts involving mask mandates and vaccine requirements in the state.
The proposal would permanently prohibit Covid-19 vaccine passports in Florida, prohibit Florida schools from instituting Covid-19 vaccine or mask requirements, forbid businesses in the state from requiring masks and bar “employers from hiring or firing based on mRNA jabs.”
“When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedom’s linchpin,” DeSantis said in a news release. “These measures will...
AP
In a wide-ranging attack on efforts to combat COVID-19, Gov. Ron DeSantis called Tuesday for the Republican-controlled Legislature to make permanent Florida’s prohibitions on mask mandates at schools and vaccine requirements for local governments and businesses.
The measures were enacted during a special session DeSantis called in late 2021, when he was fighting many Florida school districts, private businesses and the federal government under President Joe Biden, which were taking steps they saw as potentially needed to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
The mandate bans approved then by Florida lawmakers are set to expire in June.
But DeSantis wants...
.png)
