Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced an initiative to make the state’s protections from COVID-related mandates permanent as part of Florida’s ongoing effort to stand up to the “bio-medical security state.”
The proposed legislation would make permanent several executive orders signed by the governor in 2021, which are set to expire in July.
According to a press release from the governor’s office, the proposed legislation would prevent employment decisions based on vaccination status and prevent businesses and schools from mandating mask-wearing.
The legislation would prohibit COVID vaccine passports in the state, as well as prohibit mask and vaccine requirements in Florida schools and mask requirements in businesses. The legislation would also prohibit employees from being hired or fired based on their vaccination status.
During a Tuesday press conference in Panama City announcing the proposed legislation, Governor DeSantis described Florida as a “refuge of sanity” and “freedom’s linchpin,” adding the proposed measures “will ensure Florida remains this way” while providing “landmark protections for free speech for medical practitioners.”
DeSantis blasted state and national efforts to once again reinstate mask and vaccine mandates, arguing that the measures clash with personal freedom.
The governor said that over the last few years, Florida has had to stand up to “the bureaucracy, the medical establishment, legacy media, and even the president of the United States” who were working together “to impose a bio-medical security state on society.”
The proposed legislation is supported by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Lapado. During the press conference, Dr. Lapado said the COVID vaccines mark the “first time in history” mRNA technology has been used “widely in human beings.”
He said mandating that children receive the shot without showing that children “gain from it” is from “the land of crazy” and “Florida is the land of sanity.”
Governor DeSantis explained that part of the protections included in the proposed legislation would allow medical practitioners to “speak the truth” and “choose evidence over narrative.”
