Governor Florida Ron Desantis has threatened a fine for cities and districts whose employee mandates must be vaccinated against Covid-19, which have killed nearly 50,000 people in the state.
“If government institutions in the State of Florida force the vaccine as a condition for work, which violates the law of Florida,” Desantis said at a press conference.
“And you will face a $ 5,000 fine for every single violation,” he added.
“It’s millions and millions of dollars have the potential to be fine.” Florida has recorded more than 3.4 million Covid-19 cases and more than 49,000 deaths, according to Reuters calculations.
Florida is also one of the several US states where the Republican Governor tries to prevent the regional government and the school district of the mask mandate.
In what had become a politicized struggle for Covid-19 prevention, the governors said that such rules violated personal freedom.
Mandate supporters say they are needed to reduce pandemic because cases rise in the area with a lower level of vaccination, driven by a very contagious Delta variant of Coronavirus.
“We will not let people be fired due to vaccine mandates,” Desantis said on Monday.
“You don’t just get rid of people who have served faithfully …
for what is basically a personal choice on their individual health.” A florida appeal court decided to support the desantis governor on Friday, effectively restoring its prohibition on masks in state schools.
Late in August, the Department of Education Florida held back funds from two school districts which made mandatory masks in this fall class.