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Trump questions Florida push to end vaccine mandates
Evan Axelbank reports.
FLORIDA - President Donald Trump was asked on Friday about the governor's pitch to end vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, college students and nursing home patients.
"You have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple, work," he said. "They're not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used. Otherwise, some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people."
Some vaccines, like measles, mumps and polio, are dictated by the legislature and state law.
Others, like those for chicken pox and hepatitis, are dictated by the Department of Health.
"When you don't have controversy at all, I think people should take it," said President Trump.
Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo says those can be eliminated almost right away.
"This is an issue, very clearly, of parents rights," Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said during an interview on CNN.
Dig deeper:
When he announced it, the governor said he had not yet spoken to legislative leaders, but argued Monday that the mandates lead to a lack of trust, which he says started when guidance on COVID vaccines shifted as the disease changed.
Florida's current vaccination rate for kindergartners is 89 percent, five points lower than before COVID.
"I actually think you'd see higher in some respects," DeSantis said, "because I think people would say, you know what? You're trusting me. Yeah, I'm going to listen."
While many medical groups came flat out against the governor's idea, the response from legislators has been relatively cool, with leadership refusing to comment.
But with the president's cautionary tale, Republican lawmakers now have political cover to argue that opting-in, instead of opting-out, is not in the state's interest.
State Rep. Alex Andrade, who battled DeSantis over the "Hope Florida" program, is renewing the rivalry.
He is set to become the chair of the house health care subcommittee.
"President Trump has obviously had his finger on the pulse of both the Republican Party and the American people far better than Governor DeSantis ever has," said Andrade.
READ: Governor DeSantis touts Florida's Second Amendment sales tax holiday now in effect
What's next:
He points out Florida already allows exemptions from vaccine mandates on religious and medical grounds, and - like Sen. Rick Scott - says those are enough.
It will take several months for the process around the vaccines dictated by the Florida surgeon general to work through, with Ladapo saying he's already working to rescind them.
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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Evan Axelbank.