On Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his policy for “not jabbing babies” in Florida.
“We recommend against [vaccinating babies],” the governor told the crowd. “We are not going to have any program where we’re trying to jab six-month-old babies with mRNA. That’s just the reality.”
The governor strongarmed media coverage that recently highlighted Florida for ‘poor policy decisions,” and he called out the White House for spreading misinformation while trying to shame the state into submission.
“It’s what they do,” he said regarding the negative coverage by the media. “We’re not surprised the White House would amplify the lie because that’s what they do—they thought somehow we would be like embarrassed by that.”
DeSantis’ directed his reference toward White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s June 17 remarks that Florida had “reversed course and was ordering vaccines.” Florida Press Secretary Christina Pushaw fired back on Twitter, accusing Jean-Pierre of peddling misinformation.
The White House @PressSec & @McClatchyDC are both spreading disinformation. NOTHING has “reversed” or changed. The State of Florida is not placing any orders of covid shots for 0-5 year old babies & kids.
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) June 17, 2022
“The White House @PressSec & @McClatchyDC are both spreading disinformation. NOTHING has “reversed” or changed. The State of Florida is not placing any orders of covid shots for 0–5-year-old babies & kids. What they have couched as a reversal is actually the Governor’s steadfast position that the State of Florida does not recommend nor distribute shots for babies. Any healthcare provider that wants the vaccines can obtain them, and any parent who wants it for their child can get it.” She concluded with, “Retract your lies.”
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo chimed in with a tweet.
FL never "reversed course." We recommended against COVID-19 vax for healthy children in March b/c there was no strong evidence of benefit. This remains the same for healthy kids <5. Providers have always been able to order vaccines. This never changed.
Nice try, @WhiteHouse.
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) June 17, 2022
DeSantis emphasized that parents could do what they felt was suitable for their children.
“Our Department of Health has looked at it. There is no proven benefit to put a baby on mRNA, so that’s why our recommendation is against it,” he said.
The governor bulldozed Washington, DC’s vaccine narrative with, “These people in Washington have rejected the idea of natural immunity—they said that the vaccine was better than prior infection and every credible study that’s been done has said that’s not the case.”
