This week the Florida Department of Health said healthy kids do not need a COVID-19 vaccination. Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made the announcement Monday. Later that same day, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki criticized the Florida guidance.
This new Florida guidance is now the opposite of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. The federal agency says everyone 5 and older should be vaccinated against COVID-19. Florida’s position is that healthy kids between 5 and 17 years old “may not benefit from receiving the currently available COVID-19 vaccine.”
Guests:
- Dr. Lisa Gwynn, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and public health sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; medical director for the Pediatric Mobile Clinic; program director for the School Health Initiative.
- Dr. Jeff Goldhagen, chief of the Division of Community and Societal Pediatrics at UF Health jacksonville; program director, Community and Societal Pediatrics Fellowship.
Florida legislative session
Today is the end of Florida’s regular legislative session. State lawmakers will return on Monday in a short special session to finish work on the state budget.
Republican lawmakers delivered on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ conservative culture agenda, passing bills that restrict abortion to 15 weeks of pregnancy with no restrictions for rape or incest. Another bill penalizes companies transporting undocumented immigrants to Florida, and there’s a measure that bans certain topics from some classroom teaching such as sexual orientation and gender identity.
The bill is called “Parents Rights in Education,” but opponents refer to it as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Before the final vote this week, DeSantis defended the legislation, saying that opponents are misrepresenting its goal.
Guest: Lynn Hatter, news director for WFSU.
