Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a press briefing Friday blasting the controversial vaccine mandates imposed by businesses.
“My philosophy is, as a Governor, my job is to protect your individual freedom. My job is not to protect corporate freedom,” said DeSantis doubling down on protecting individual rights amid pressures to force vaccines and Covid restrictions on Floridians.
When asked by a reporter about the rights of business owners to mandate all employees to get the Covid-19 vaccine, DeSantis boldly clarified again that his role as governor is to protect the rights of the individuals he represents, not corporations, according to Florida Politics.
“At the end of the day, my philosophy is that as governor, my job is to protect your individual freedom. My job is not to protect corporate freedom. That is not what I’m here for. We have a good business climate, we have everything. This idea that businesses can do whatever they want and invade your privacy in doing that — I’m not signing up for that,” DeSantis said.
“I’m signing up for protecting your freedom and making sure we have a society in Florida where people can make the best decisions for themselves and their families,” the governor continued. “And that’s what we’re doing by protecting against these mandates and making sure that’s done based on what people believe is best for them and their family, not something that is imposed either by government or in some instances by very powerful private entities.”
DeSantis has continually voiced opposition to not only vaccine mandates, but to mask mandates as well. On July 30, DeSantis signed an executive order prohibiting school districts from forcing children to wear masks in schools.
“Last summer, at my direction, Florida’s Department of Education ordered schools to be open for in-person instruction for five days per week to ensure the continued well-being of students and families; and schools – including those that did not require students to be masked – did not drive community transmission of COVID-19,” the order reads.
After alleging that the CDC “lacks a well-grounded scientific justification for mask mandates,” the order states that “a Brown University study analyzed COVID-19 data for schools in Florida and found no correlation with mask mandates.”
In fact, it found that “masking children may lead to negative health and societal ramifications; and studies have shown that children are at a low risk of contracting a serious illness due to COVID-19 and do not play a significant role in the spread of the virus,” the order continued.
“Forcing children to wear masks could inhibit breathing, lead to the collection of dangerous impurities including bacteria, parasites, fungi, and other contaminants, and adversely affect communications in the classroom and student performance; and here is no statistically-significant evidence to suggest that counties with mask requirements have fared any better than those without mask requirements during the 2020-2021 school year,” the text stated regarding adverse effects of mask-wearing on children.
Multiple Florida Judges have taken action to prevent the implementation of the order and the governor is currently filing an appeal after Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper struck down his ban on masks mandates, according to the Daily Wire.
“It’ll be appealed. We’ll end up getting it back,” DeSantis said on Monday. “At the end of the day, ultimately, we’re just trying to stand with the parents.”