Last Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration advised residents in his state under the age of 65 to not get the newly approved COVID-19 booster. It was only days later that new data came in: It showed Florida ranked number one in the country for coronavirus-related hospitalizations.

DeSantis’s campaign for president has played up his handling of the pandemic as bucking liberal orthodoxy for the good of the state. He championed faster reopenings and appointed Dr. Joseph Lapado, a “vaccine skeptic,” as the Florida’s surgeon general.

Last week, Lapado, who earlier this year altered data to disprove the COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy, claimed that the new booster shots potentially posed a risk to young people, a notion that studies have not backed up. “With the amount of immunity that’s in the community—with virtually every walking human being having some degree of immunity—and with the questions we have about safety and about effectiveness, especially about safety, my judgment is that it’s not a good decision [to take the new booster] for young people and for people who are not at high risk at this point in the pandemic,” said Lapado during a roundtable hosted by DeSantis on September 13.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a national rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, with a significant uptick in parts of Florida. On the week of September 9, an estimated 2,280 people had been hospitalized with COVID-related issues. Despite these alarming numbers, DeSantis has stood behind Lapado’s comments, claiming the CDC is using Floridians as “guinea pigs” for the COVID-19 booster.

Unfortunately, none of this is new for Lapado or DeSantis. My colleague Kiera Butler has extensively documented the governor’s war against COVID-19 safety precautions to help further his own political career, often to the detriment of his constituents’ health. In 2022, Butler wrote:

In July, I watched DeSantis speak at the annual conference of Moms for Liberty, a rapidly-growing parents’ rights group founded by two former school-board members in Florida. DeSantis bragged about how his administration had pushed back on the federal recommendation that the youngest children be vaccinated against Covid because they believed that immunity acquired from having contracted the virus was superior to the shot…Yet even as DeSantis crows about his Covid success, his state is reeling from the pandemic’s ravages. More than 82,000 Floridians have died of Covid—the third-highest death toll in the country, behind the more populous states of California and Texas. And while DeSantis is favored to be reelected as governor, the Republican presidential primary is anything but a sure bet.

  • kescusay@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    More than 82,000 Floridians have died of Covid—the third-highest death toll in the country, behind the more populous states of California and Texas.

    I would bet cash money that the true death toll in Florida is much higher. DeSantis has worked very hard to fuck up the reporting of deaths from the pandemic.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This guys policy is just “I do the opposite of whatever popular democrats say.”

    If Biden told everyone he likes to shit after his morning coffee, Ron DeSantis would come out in favor of constipation.

  • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    He wants dead supporters, let him have them. No one on the left is listening to any of his bullshit so… Let’s call this a tragic win and move on.

      • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I am sad that they’re being misled into hurting themselves. I’d rather an ideal world where they listen to reason. Sadly, that ideal world isn’t our world.

        I’m also sad that they’re helping the virus spread. The more it spreads, the more it mutates. The more it mutates, the more likely one strain evades the vaccines’ protections.

        Anti-vaxxers hurt more than just other anti-vaxxers.

      • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Umm… if they’re supporters under 65, they’re voting for him. That’s the definition of supporter.

    • roofuskit@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Well we know they are fudging the numbers because he’s still using the government to terrorize the family of the woman who exposed it. So being the biggest surge in the country while also lying about the numbers.

    • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Look man I just need a few thousand voters here. They exist because of the last census and our support was higher in the last few elections. Where could they be?

  • SolNine@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    It’s literally come to the point where you can almost guarantee doing the opposite of what any member of the GOP says, is actually the right thing to do.

    I live in Florida, he’s a total piece of shit pandering to lunatics to attempt to be to the right of Trump…

    I got my booster Monday evening, despite this chuckle fuck and his supposed doctor “surgeon general.” Oh and I’m well under 65…

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Side question - has anyone been able to get the new booster already? My local pharmacies still don’t have them available.

    • 2scoops@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I got it this evening thru CVS, but had to go to the town over from mine, as no appts were available on my zip code. The CVS app appears to update availability throughout the day. This morning there was nothing. This afternoon I booked a same day appt. Hope this helps.

        • 2scoops@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I was very luck to have insurance for the entirety of the pandemic, and wasn’t ever charge out of pocket, including last night.

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Yes and no. My pharmacy had it within a day or two, but said my insurance wouldn’t cover the new formulation yet

  • Reptorian@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    The opposite of what Rhonda Sandtits says is usually the correct thing to do, so I will certainly get a new booster.

          • Reptorian@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            I do understand that position. Normally, I wouldn’t either. But, given this man has a big hatred toward a section of the population like drags and people who are in need of gender reassignment, I think the name fits him. The more people call him that, the more he gets dragged down by supporters who feel the same against those section of the population. DeathSentence doesn’t feel that it has that big of a impact.

  • Cobrachickenwing@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Lapado doesn’t even have the numbers to show there is herd immunity from COVID. As of December 2022 only 72% got the 2 shots while less than 1% got the booster. All the unvaccinated will get hit with another wave.

    • spider@lemmy.nz
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      1 year ago

      Lapado doesn’t even have the numbers to show there is herd immunity from COVID.

      However, Floridians have acquired herd stupidity – they re-elected DeSantis.