While infections and hospitalizations are rising, the numbers are far below where they were at the height of the pandemic; infections are not surging, and hospitals are far from being overwhelmed like they were at the pandemic’s zenith
So, even though federal health officials have given no indication that they will recommend a return to mandatory masks or vaccine mandates, DeSantis is pushing back hard, as he tries to run to the right of Trump on COVID-19 issues.
DeSantis gained prominence on the national stage by publicly feuding with the Biden administration’s top health officials over COVID-19 policy. In 2021, a DeSantis-aligned PAC made headlines by selling merchandise featuring slogans like “Don’t Fauci My Florida,” in reference to Anthony Fauci, then a top health official and frequent target of the GOP.
COVID-19 generally, and Fauci specifically, have been a sore spot for Trump.
During an interview with Megyn Kelly on SiriusXM, she seemed dubious of Trump’s reasons for not firing Fauci as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases while in office.
“You made him a star … This is the criticism of you, that you made him the face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force,” Kelly said.
Before Trump left office, he gave Fauci a presidential commendation. In a Fox News Radio interview, DeSantis contended that Trump “would do the same thing all over again, if put in that position, and that would be disastrous for our country.”
Trump leads DeSantis by about 40 points in the current national weighted polling average maintained by data site FiveThirtyEight. That is a far wider gap than Trump enjoyed earlier in the year, before the Florida governor launched his White House campaign.
This week, DeSantis and his handpicked surgeon general urged anyone under the age of 65 to not get vaccinated — a move that directly countered what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended for the updated vaccines.
DeSantis asserted that he was not going to let public health bodies “use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven to be safe or effective.”
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