DeSantis tears fresh rift through Florida Republican Party with latest push​

Florida’s announced push to eliminate all vaccine mandates drew fierce condemnation from Democrats, but it is also exposing a potential rift among Republicans.

Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott distanced himself from Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and their pledge to strip mandates and immunization requirements from both Florida law and rules carried out by state agencies.

Other prominent GOP officials, however, took a less clear stance and suggested they supported parental rights without explicitly endorsing the elimination of mandates.

Republican legislative leaders in the state House and Senate, meanwhile, haven’t indicated whether they will support the proposal, which would require legislative approval.

Scott defends public health

Scott served two terms as Florida governor and during that eight-year span cut back the amount of public health available at county health departments, reduced Medicaid spending, and eliminated from the Florida Kidcare program thousands of children in hurricane battered zones whose parents couldn’t pay their required monthly premiums.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (photo via the Scott campaign)

A former healthcare executive, Scott resigned from Columbia/HCA, the company he helped found, in 1997 due to billing fraud allegations. Although Scott personally never was charged, the allegations resulted in the company paying a $1.7 billion in fines and settlements, the largest such recovery to that point.

Yet he was the first Florida Republican to openly criticize the proposal.

“Florida already has a good system that allows families to opt out based on religious and personal beliefs, which balances our children’s health and parents’ rights,” Scott said in a statement.

Meanwhile Scott’s counterpart, Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, supports the move. DeSantis appointed Moody, a former Florida attorney general, to the U.S. Senate.

“They don’t call us the free state of Florida for nothing,” Moody said. “One of the things I think stood out about our state during the last years, especially when we were dealing with [Covid-19], was that we pushed back and made sure that we were giving reasoned analysis throughout that time period and making sure that people knew we as state leaders understood our limits, that we respected individuals’ rights,” Moody told NewsMax.

Senate President Ben Albritton’s office isn’t publicly commenting on the proposal at this time, said Katherine Betta, his spokesperson. House Speaker Daniel Perez’s office, meanwhile, hasn’t replied to requests for comment

Meanwhile, former Senate President Don Gaetz, a Republican from Destin now serving again in the cbamber, took a cautionary approach. Among his committee assignments is membership in Health Policy.

He did not criticize the move by the DeSantis administration but said that science requires a continued evaluation of evidence and conclusions.

Sen. Don Gaetz (Photo/Florida Senate)

“If the surgeon general has valid and reliable evidence challenging the efficacy of certain vaccinations then of course I am open to his proposal,” Gaetz said in a statement to the Florida Phoenix. “As a layman, I also hope to hear from medical authorities.”

While initially silent following the announcement, the Florida Medical Association on Thursday issued a terse statement opposing the proposal.

“On behalf of Florida’s more than 23,000 physicians and medical professionals, the Florida Medical Association unequivocally supports the vaccination and immunization of school-aged children against diseases that decades ago proved life-threatening to our kids. The FMA advocates for physicians and their patients to promote the public health, ensure the highest standards of medical practice, and to enhance the quality and availability of health care in the Sunshine State. This includes the safe and effective administration of vaccines and immunizations based on years of research and efficacy.”

Stuart Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell told the Phoenix she needs to see the proposal in bill form before commenting on it but believes in vaccines.

“I totally support vaccines and vaccinations.We do have opt-out provisions in current statutes, so I’d really have to see what they what exactly they would do before I comment on anything.”

Harrell played a key role earlier this year in quashing legislation that would have required physicians and health care facilities to treat patients regardless of their vaccination status.

Hillsborough County Republican Rep. Michael Owen said the idea of allowing parental choice appeals to conservatives but stopped short of supporting the proposal.

“Informed consent to put the parents in the driver’s seat, but I definitely want to look at and see what we’re talking about when it comes to certain vaccines that may be critical for children. I’m open to the science and listening to the doctors, and us allowing Floridian parents to make those decisions,” he told the Phoenix.

Where the Republican candidates stand

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bryon Donalds released an ambiguous statement on X Thursday, saying, “I believe parents should be empowered to make vaccination decisions for their children.”

DeSantis administration pushes to eliminate all vaccine mandates in Florida

Florida law now places the decision of whether to vaccinate children with parents and, despite certain vaccine requirements, allows exemptions for medical or religious objections that enable unvaccinated children to attend school.

Likewise, eliminating the mandate to vaccinate would not preclude Florida parents from voluntarily vaccinating their children.

Former House speaker and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Paul Renner also issued a vague statement Thursday.

“As speaker, I opposed mandatory covid vaccines and supported strong parental rights legislation. Parents should not be forced to have their children take a vaccine that they think is unsafe. However, we should have safe and effective vaccines that save lives.”

‘It’s going to affect the whole country, and even globally’

Dr. Scott Weaver is director of the University of Texas Medical Branch Institute for Human Infections and Immunity. His research focuses on vaccine development for a variety of diseases. In an interview with the Florida Phoenix Thursday, Weaver called the proposal “just a terrible decision.”

University of Texas Medical Branch Institute for Human Infections and Immunity Director Dr. Scott Weaver (Photo/UTMB)

“I’m sure it’s pretty simple to get a waiver from the vaccine requirements in Florida and many other states, but when you don’t even need the waiver, it’s going to be much easier. And I think a lot of people are going to opt out because they’re not familiar with the diseases. They haven’t seen measles in their lifetime. They’ve been misinformed about the risks versus benefits of these vaccines. They don’t understand that their decision not to vaccinate their child could result in other children becoming infected.”

Weaver stresses that if the Legislature does eliminate vaccine mandates, the decision will reverberate beyond Florida.

“If Florida starts seeing big outbreaks of measles, which they certainly will with this policy, they’re going to see outbreaks all over the country. There are many pockets of low immunity throughout the country, and it just takes one traveler to start an outbreak there. And so it’s not even going to be confined to affecting Floridians. It’s going to affect the whole country and even globally.”

Weaver believes the anti-vaccination movement started with misleading information from Andrew Wakefield, a British physician who published a paper claiming to link autism to vaccines. His publisher later withdrew his paper amid accusations of research fraud and British authorities withdrew his license to practice medicine.

Now the best way to beat back anti-vaccination efforts is through education, Weaver said.

“I think a long term solution is, as part of our school curricula, we have to teach children how to find reliable information on the internet and how to distinguish misinformation or poorly formulated information from the best information from the most reliable sources and experts in a given field,” he said.

“I don’t know whether that’s starting to happen, but that’s got to be the cornerstone, to educate everybody how to find reliable information, how to distinguish misinformation — conspiracy theory with no basis behind it — from information that they should be using to make these critical decisions.”

Florida Phoenix reporter Mitch Perry contributed to this story