Last week, President Biden confirmed he cared very little for first responders who are unwilling to get the Covid-19 vaccine, telling CNN's Anderson Cooper during a town hall event that they should definitely lose their jobs for failing to comply. But down south, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken the opposite approach.
DeSantis, who is vaccinated, has been extremely critical of mandates that are being imposed at the federal, state, and local levels and among private businesses. On Sunday, he told "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo "what Biden's doing is unconstitutional. He does not have the authority to do this."
The Florida Republican said the mandates will not only impact people personally but the economy as a whole.
"In addition to be taking away people's personal choices, it will wreak havoc in the economy because even if a small percentage of these folks end up losing their jobs or voluntarily walking away, you're going to have huge disruptions in medical, in logistics, in law enforcement," DeSantis argued.
"So in Florida, our policy's very clear," he continued, "we're going to have a special session and we're going to say nobody should lose their job based off these injections."
Addressing police across the nation whose livelihoods are being affected by vaccine mandates, DeSantis said Florida is "actively working to recruit" them.
"In Florida, not only are we going to want to protect the law enforcement and all the jobs, we're actually actively working to recruit out of state law enforcement because we do have needs in our police and our sheriffs' departments," DeSantis said.
"So, in the next legislative session, I'm going to hopefully sign legislation that gives a $5,000 bonus to any out of state law enforcement that relocates in Florida," he added.
Speaking to the law enforcement community directly, DeSantis said, "If you're not being treated well, we'll treat you better here. You can fill important needs for us, and we'll compensate you as a result."
Last week, DeSantis said he was calling a special legislative session to ban local Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Additionally, the special session will address "holding businesses liable for adverse reactions to vaccines, removing legal liability protections for employers with vaccine mandates, and added protections for people fired for not being vaccinated," reports Fox News.
I will not let the heavy hand of government force Floridians to take a shot. That violates their constitutional rights, infringes on their medical freedom, and threatens their livelihoods.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 24, 2021
We will hold a Special Session to fight for Floridians’ freedom. #DontTreadOnFlorida pic.twitter.com/b8Owjxniqg
