Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday emphasized that school districts in Florida will not mandate children to get vaccinated for the Chinese coronavirus, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommending the shot be added to a child’s routine vaccine schedule.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 15-0 to add the coronavirus vaccine to a child’s immunization routine. While the CDC’s recommendation is not binding, critics believe some states and localities will embrace the recommendation, as many did with the universal masking requirement that plagued school districts across the nation for months on end.
Advisory committee member, Nirav Shah, however, emphasized the importance of “local control” when it comes to the implementation of the federal health agency’s recommendations.
“We honor that the decision around school entrance for vaccines rests where it did before, which is at the state level, the county level and at the municipal level, if it exists at all,” she said.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo spoke out prior to the CDC panel’s vote, assuring that the standard will not change in Florida, and DeSantis doubled down on that sentiment Thursday.
‘There’s been a lot of questions to our office about the CDC potentially adding COVID vaccine to the childhood immunization schedule. And I know a lot of parents are concerned about that because if that’s on the immunization schedule, the fear is that schools could potentially mandate your child to get a COVID shot even if that’s not something that you want to do,” DeSantis said.
Markeata West, left, holds her daughter, Justice, 6, as she receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 from Dr. Eugenio Fernandez at Asthenis Pharmacy in Providence, R.I., Friday, Nov. 5, 2021 (AP Photo/David Goldman).
“So I just want to let everyone be clear, you know, as long as I’m around, as long as I’m kicking and screaming, there will be no COVID shot mandates for your kids. That is your decision,” he said to applause. “That is your decision to make as a parent.”
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DeSantis stated that “most parents in Florida have opted against doing these booster shots” for their children, adding that the surgeon general of Florida “does not recommend this for young kids, for kids under 18.”
“And basically his reason for that — there’s not really been a proven benefit for that. I mean, we can get into some of the potential side effects. You don’t even really need to do that. [There’s] not been a proven benefit,” he said.
“But it’s a free state. Parents can make the other decision if that’s what they want. The important thing is, is that school districts are not mandating this choice,” the governor added.