Jason Delgado
Federal health officials have a messaging problem, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Friday.
Speaking to reporters in Lakeland, DeSantis forecast the state will soon hit a proverbial vaccine wall.
He estimated Florida will soon have a vaccine surplus, signifying the state’s latest and greatest challenge: encouraging those “on the fence” to get vaccinated.
“I must say, we’re not helped in this regard by the behavior of some of these public health people, particularly in the federal government,” DeSantis said.
The Republican Governor cited the federal government’s handling of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Last week, U.S. health agencies recommended a pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations while they investigate reports of blood clots.
In a statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they’re investigating six instances of clots among vaccination recipients.
In all, more than 6.8 million Johnson & Johnson doses have been administered in the U.S.
The recommendation pauses administration of the single-shot vaccine at thousands of vaccination sites nationwide.
“If you’re going to do that, you could have done that in a way that was not going to cause a lot of people to lose confidence,” DeSantis said without pitching an alternative.
The Governor’s criticism marks his latest jab at the federal health community at large. Throughout the pandemic, DeSantis has repeatedly bucked federal health guidance.
While the cavalier approach has drawn arrows from some, it has also thrust DeSantis onto the national stage and into conservative stardom.
“I also think it’s a problem where you’re telling people to get (the) vaccine and yet people that have been vaccinated for months are wearing two masks,” DeSantis continued Friday.
As of Thursday, more than 7.6 million people have been vaccinated in Florida.
Meanwhile, more than 2.9 million people are waiting to complete the two-shot vaccination process through either Pfizer or Moderna shots.
7 comments
trump lost
April 17, 2021 at 10:03 am
If anyone knows about bobbling a message, its Desantis.
zhombre
April 18, 2021 at 7:44 am
Bobbling idiots like you would’ve elected Gillum.
Beth
April 20, 2021 at 5:46 am
Meanwhile FL continues to average 5000 new cases of covid per day. If only we had an intelligent governor who actually cared about FL and it’s citizens. Instead he spends his time promoting insurrection and pushing his racist agenda. Ronnie needs to be voted out.
Lynda Anderson
April 20, 2021 at 12:44 pm
Show your proof on your false statements Beth, your part of the problem with fake news, rumors, scare tactics, where oh where do you get your information?? The view?? What you dont know could fill a library!!!
Beth
April 21, 2021 at 7:18 pm
Check out what your boy wrote on social media encouraging the big lie and the insurrection. Perhaps you need to lay off Fox News
tjb
April 20, 2021 at 8:41 am
The Federal government is doing amazingly better with its Covid 19 response than the previous administration.
Ron, will you stop playing politics regarding Covid 19 and mask up and shut up. We don’t need to have more Floridians dying because of your political posturing.
tjb
April 20, 2021 at 9:02 am
Percentage of the population fully vaccinated — April 19.
Florida ranks 36 of 50. Worst than New York and California. DeSantis why is that? Are you too busy stoping the rights of Americans to protest?
Comments are closed.