NEWBERRY, Florida — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) on Monday blasted the federal government and localities implementing vaccine mandates on first responders, deeming it “unconscionable” that politicians will not trust them to make their own decisions.
“This is not about whether or not someone should strongly consider the vaccine. … This is about, very simply, how much power do our government officials have when we have never given them that power to do something like this,” Moody said during an appearance at Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Monday press conference.
She said there are many “egregious” examples of politicians thinking they have more power than they do, “locking people in their homes, keeping them from participating in religious ceremonies and worship” — references to the actions taken by radical left Democrats in 2020.
“Unacceptable,” she said. “They did not have the power. Courts agreed with that. And now you have city officials saying they are going to fire employees if they don’t take a vaccine. It is unlawful. It is directly contradicting Florida law.”
Moody reminded the crowd that she is the wife of a career law enforcement officer, and as such, she witnessed “firsthand” how they routinely put their “lives on the line.”
“It is unconscionable that we would trust these folks to decide and throw themselves in front of a bullet for the safety of other people, but we won’t trust them to make a decision for their own safety. Unconscionable,” she said to applause.
Moody added that the U.S. is already facing a shortage of recruitment and retention of law enforcement and warned the mandate “does not help and will not help.”
“If this goes through and … first responders are fired, it will dangerously affect the staffing of law enforcement, which will directly affect the safety of Florida communities,” she added.
Last week, upon Biden’s vaccine mandate announcement, Moody warned that she is ready to take “any and all action within the authority” of her office to “stop this unprecedented power grab.”