Florida is the only state in the country to not pre-order covid-19 vaccines for children under 5-years-old. On Thursday Gov. Ron DeSantis defended that decision citing misinformation about the efficacy of the shots.
“Our department of health has been very clear that the risk outweighs the benefits and we recommend against,” DeSantis said. He said Florida is not “banning” the vaccine and people can still access it.
“Parents are really frightened about COVID for their kids. It’s because of media hysteria, it’s because of a lot of misinformation,” DeSantis added as the audience applauded.
Florida was the only state to miss the deadline to pre-order covid vaccines. A committee of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to recommend the agency authorize COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech for children as young as 6 months earlier this week.
In a statement on Wednesday, Florida Department of Health said it did not place an order with the federal government for vaccine doses for children younger than 5 because it doesn’t advise that all children get vaccinated.
“States do not need to be involved in the convoluted vaccine distribution process, especially when the federal government has a track record of developing inconsistent and unsustainable COVID-19 policies,” the DOH statement said in a statement to Politico. “It is also no surprise we chose not to participate in distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine when the Department does not recommend it for all children.”
Florida’s DOH is led by Surgeon General Joe Ladapo, a DeSantis appointee who is a prominent critic of COVID-19 vaccines. He told reporters on Tuesday that he opposes the use of the vaccine in children.
Parents in Florida can still vaccinate their young kids once the shot is available at CVS or other pharmacies that partner with the federal government.
