Five weeks ago U.S Rep. Charlie Crist was demanding that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis force state employees to submit to a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m calling on the governor to immediately require that our state employees be vaccinated or if they choose not to, be regularly tested and wear a mask indoors. If Disney, Walmart, and our military can do it, our state government can as well,” the Clearwater Democrat said in a statement in early August.
“This latest phase of the crisis is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Crist added. “The way to stamp out the virus, and protect our public health, economy, and our jobs, is to get everyone vaccinated.”
Crist, who seeks to challenge DeSantis for governor next year, now has embraced President Joe Biden’s plan, announced last Thursday, to force shots into perhaps 100 million Americans as part of a national vaccine mandate.
Crist’s support of the president’s mandate, which would be directed through rule-making by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has not made widespread news.
For example, a Google search of the terms “Crist,” “Biden” and “vaccine” returns nothing except reports of a trip Crist made to Palm Beach County to promote vaccines before Biden announced the mandate.
Nor is there any mention of Biden’s mandate on Crist’s congressional website.
Yet Crist has posted his endorsement on social media.
On his Facebook page on Sept. 9, the congressman posted an Associated Press article about Biden’s vaccination plan.
“President Biden is doing the right thing & doubling down on America’s commitment to defeating this pandemic,” Crist wrote. “If Ron DeSantis showed an ounce of this kind of leadership, how many lives would be saved? Seniors, kids, parents, teachers … the list goes on.”
Crist also supported the plan in a string of tweets posted on Twitter last Thursday.
“In today’s @WhiteHouse speech, @POTUS is vowing to do what Tallahassee will not: use every tool at our disposal to stop the #Delta surge and save American lives,” Crist said. “Where Tallahassee is letting this virus cripple our economy, @POTUS is calling on federal workers and big businesses to get vaccinated and protect themselves and others. This is the ONLY way we can beat this virus and get back to our lives.”
He added, “Where Tallahassee is infringing on the rights of private businesses to protect the safety of their employees and customers, @POTUS is extending small business assistance so business owners can keep their doors open and their staff safe.”
“This is the strategy we need to defeat #Delta – proactive, not reactive,” Crist concluded. “With Florida the epicenter of the pandemic, I’m grateful to work with a leader like President Biden who doesn’t see the lives of Floridians as disposable – when in fact, there is nothing more precious.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to Biden’s vaccine mandate announcement last week.
DeSantis’ office said he would not respond directly to Bidenlast Thursday, but during a press conference earlier on Thursday, DeSantis commented on vaccine mandates, seemingly in anticipation of where Biden intended to go later that day.
DeSantis said he was concerned about the Biden administration forcing mandates on individuals and businesses, and promised to resist.
“How could we get to the point in the country where you would want to have someone lose their job because of their choice about the vaccine or not?” the governor said. “Maybe they’re making the wrong decision, but to put them out of work … and not let them earn a living because of this, I just think that that’s fundamentally wrong.”
DeSantis added that as the drive for vaccines becomes more “coercive,” people only feel more alienated, and actually makes people inclined to not get a shot.
On Thursday evening, DeSantis’ spokeswoman, Christian Pushaw, noted in a statement, “The constant stream of insults and threats from the White House is a desperate attempt to regain control of the Narrative and distract from the Biden Administration’s abject failures: Afghanistan, the border crisis, and the COVID-19 response.”
With DeSantis’ leadership, she added, Florida was the first state to deploy monoclonal antibody treatment sites to save the lives of high-risk COVID-19 patients, as 25 state-supported sites have opened around our state in less than a month, treating roughly 70,000 Floridians so far. The treatment has helped Florida become one of just nine states with falling hospitalization rates.
Biden, again without acknowledging DeSantis by name, referenced the Republican’s pioneering advocacy of monoclonal antibody treatment, noting that it reduces the risk of hospitalization for the unvaccinated by 70 percent. The remedy is so effective, said Biden, that he’s ramping up its production, boosting the 1.4 million doses already distributed by another 50 percent.
“It’s good to see that Biden is finally endorsing this life-saving treatment,” said Pushaw, “and he should have focused on that – instead of authoritarian and coercive mandates that are not even effective in stopping COVID-19.”
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