The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has once again questioned the efficacy of the vaccine against the coronavirus and has called on the state’s Supreme Court to investigate alleged irregularities committed in favor of pharmaceutical companies, known, he said, for «deceiving the population».
DeSantis, who sounds as Donald Trump’s rival in the party’s primaries for the 2024 presidential race, has assured that after the pandemic health crisis it is necessary «a thorough investigation» on vaccines, since the pharmaceutical companies have a «long history» of deception to profit economically.
In this sense, he has asked the Supreme Court to investigate «the development, promotion and distribution of vaccines that supposedly prevent the infection, symptoms and transmission of COVID-19».
This is not the first time that DeSantis has questioned the reliability of the vaccine and defended denialist postulates, showing himself since the beginning of Joe Biden’s Administration as one of those local politicians who have fought against federal laws that seek to prevent and stop the advance of the pandemic.
Florida is one of the states that contested the mandatory use of masks in schools and public places, as well as against the rest of the laws related to the coronavirus pandemic that came from Washington.
However, this was not always the case. Last year, DeSantis himself came to describe these vaccines as true lifesavers, although he gradually changed his opinion until he opted for the postulates of the most conservative section of the Republican Party. A change of strategy that for many of Trump’s allies is nothing more than a way of trying to get closer to that electorate.
«We know exactly what Ron is up to,» an adviser to former President Trump has said on condition of anonymity for NBC. «We’ve seen this coming for a year now, ever since Ron started going anti-vaccine,» he said.
Despite this opposition to vaccines, DeSantis has not only been vaccinated against the coronavirus on several occasions, although he refused to confirm that he had received booster doses, which earned him the insinuation from Trump that he is a «coward.»
«They don’t want to say it because they don’t have the guts (…), but the fact is that the vaccines saved tens of millions of people around the world. I’ve had absolutely no side effects,» Trump said in January, surprising many by that change regarding vaccines he was initially wary of.
The governor’s new move comes as he is ahead in the polls whether he faces President Joe Biden or Donald Trump. In a theoretical electoral battle with the head of the White House, DeSantis would prevail with 47 percent of the vote, while in Florida he has more support than the former president according to the Republican firm Ragnar Research Partners.
