Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday said the most important part of the state legislature’s special session is ensuring that no one loses their job “over these shots,” emphasizing that Chinese coronavirus vaccines should be “available for all” and “mandatory for none.”
When asked about the actions of the legislature in the special session, which is currently underway, DeSantis said the “most important thing” is to “make sure that no one is losing their jobs over these shots.”
“Ok? We have firefighters, cops, people that work in all kinds of industries for private businesses that have been working this entire time. Many of them as I mentioned, already have immunity through prior infection,” DeSantis said during the press conference in Naples, Florida.
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“And so the bottom line is, this is not something that should be coerced on to people, and that has been our position from day one. Available for all, mandatory for none,” he said.
The Republican governor said he never imagined that America would get to a place where people would be denied the ability to work and earn a living based on getting a shot.
“That’s just not the way to do it. So we’re going to have substantive protections, the legislature’s going to provide substantive protections. Yes it will push back on OSHA, but it will also say if a private corporation is trying to do this on their own, hold on a minute, we don’t want people to be discriminated against on the basis of that,” he said, predicting it will be a “very good thing” if lawmakers can get it done.
“There will be some other good stuff … that’s in there but that’s the core issue right now. I don’t want to see Floridians lose their jobs. I want Floridians to be able to earn a living, provide for their families,” he added. “We need more of that, not less of that.”