How DeSantis’ anti-vax flip-flop made Florida’s COVID death rate soar: report

24 July 2023

One of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' lines of attack against Donald Trump is that the 2024 presidential primary frontrunner is soft on vaccines. So far, it isn't working: Trump has maintained a sizable lead over him in polls (40 percent, according to Harvard/Harris). Nonetheless, DeSantis continues to remind MAGA anti-vaxxers that Trump has been an enthusiastic promoter of COVID-19 vaccines.

Another DeSantis talking point is that he protected Florida's economy by resisting the type of pandemic lockdowns that other states enacted.

But DeSantis wasn't always an anti-vaxxer. A New York Times report published on July 22 details the Florida governor's calculated shift to an anti-vax/anti-social distancing platform — and the deadly price that Floridians paid for it.

According to Times reporters Sharon LaFraniere, Patricia Mazzei and Albert Sun, the Florida governor's shift on pandemic policy came in September 2020. Then-Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, they report, was "distraught" when he phoned Dr. Deborah Birx (who was part of Trump's pandemic task force along with Dr. Anthony Fauci) to let her know that DeSantis was suddenly claiming that the worst of the pandemic was over and planned to roll back social distancing measures.

"Mr. DeSantis' push to swiftly reopen businesses helped employment rebound, but also likely contributed to the spread of infections," the Times journalists explain. "But on the single factor that those experts say mattered most in fighting COVID — widespread vaccinations — Mr. DeSantis' approach proved deeply flawed. While the governor personally crusaded for Floridians 65 and older to get shots, he laid off once younger age groups became eligible."

LaFraniere, Mazzei and Sun add, "Tapping into suspicion of public health authorities, which the Republican right was fanning, he effectively stopped preaching the virtues of COVID vaccines. Instead, he emphasized his opposition to requiring anyone to get shots, from hospital workers to cruise ship guests."

During 2021's summer, they note, Florida "lagged behind the national average" in COVID-19 vaccination rates — which "left the state particularly vulnerable" when the Delta variant arrived.

"Floridians died at a higher rate, adjusted for age, than residents of almost any other state during the Delta wave, according to the Times analysis," LaFraniere, Mazzei and Sun report. "With less than 7 percent of the nation's population, Florida accounted for 14 percent of deaths between the start of July and the end of October."

The New York Times journalists add, "Of the 23,000 Floridians who died, 9000 were younger than 65. Despite the governor's insistence at the time that 'our entire vulnerable population has basically been vaccinated,' a vast majority of the 23,000 were either unvaccinated or had not yet completed the two-dose regimen."

COVID-19 is still highly contagious in 2023. The huge difference between now and the 2020/2021 pandemic is that COVID-19 isn't nearly as deadly as it was before. The vast majority of new infections are not fatal and do not require hospitalization.

"In Florida, unlike the nation as a whole — and states like New York and California that Mr. DeSantis likes to single out — most people who died from COVID died after vaccines became available to all adults, not before," LaFraniere, Mazzei and Sun note. "As the governor's political positions began to shift, so did his state's death rate — for the worse."

The New York Times' full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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