Oct 21, 2021
Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, in response to Governor Ron DeSantis calling for a special session to ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried offered the following statement:
“Where was the call for a special session last year when families, business, schools, and local governments were struggling with the state’s unemployment system a disaster, the state’s emergency bridge loans quickly drained, and funding gaps that could have been filled with federal funds that the Governor’s office has been slow to disburse – if at all – with little transparency? Where was the call for a special session this summer as we face a COVID-19 surge pushing our hospitals to capacity and deaths in our state now more than 58,000? Where was the call for a special session with the Piney Point disaster and the subsequent red tide crisis in our waters? Where was the call for a special session when the Surfside collapse took nearly 100 lives?
“This is a purely self-serving political ploy by the Governor, once again pulling out all the stops to appease – and encourage – extremist positions that fly in the face of science and public health instead of protecting our children, our communities, and our economy. It provides a dangerous platform for extremists who have been threatening those trying to do right to keep their communities safe, and creates a slippery slope by undermining public health policies supported by sound science and the medical community by instead promoting conspiracy theorists and risky unproven treatments.
“I once again call on the Governor to abandon his reckless anti-science and anti-Biden crusade that only serves his political ambition at the cost of further taxpayer-funded lawsuits, economic disruptions, and the lives of Floridians.”
With the Florida Department of Health suspending daily COVID-19 reporting in early June, Commissioner Fried, an independently elected member of the Florida Cabinet, has been providing regular COVID-19 briefings across the state to provide timely public health information as well as encouraging science-based virus-mitigation efforts, including vaccination, mask-wearing, social distancing, and testing after known exposure or symptoms. She has been a vocal opponent of the Governor’s unconstitutional and anti-children school mask ban and has been calling on the Governor to disavow conspiracy theorists. Commissioner Fried has also been outspoken on the need for the state to bring down and disburse federal resources available to help Florida, most recently resulting in over $1 billion in supplemental school nutrition funding for Florida families.
