Gov. Ron DeSantis, who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine early last year, declined to acknowledge Friday whether he has received a booster shot.
During a news conference about funding for infrastructure improvements in Sarasota, DeSantis was asked if he has received a booster.
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“That’s something that, you know, I think people should just make their own decisions on,” DeSantis responded. “I’m not going to let that be a weapon for people to be able to use. I think it’s a private matter.”
DeSantis repeated his assertions about the political motivations behind booster recommendations.
“I have said publicly that, you know, the FDA recommended against boosters for people in my age group, but the CDC overrode that, and I think that was based on politics. I don’t think that that was based on science,” DeSantis said. “So in Florida, they’ve been available for people. People can make their own decisions on it. But it’s not been something that, you know, that we’ve been telling people in my age group, you know, to go out and do.”
DeSantis was also asked about the state Senate’s decision to not consider a controversial redistricting plan that his administration proposed.
The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved new congressional and Senate maps in the once-a-decade redistricting process. It did not take up a congressional map that DeSantis’ general counsel, Ryan Newman, proposed Sunday. The DeSantis map would be more favorable to Republicans.
“That’s their prerogative,” DeSantis said. “For the congressional map, it requires my signature. We have lawyers that had had concerns about what they were doing. So that process will work itself out, and we’ll be able to hopefully end up with a product that makes a lot of sense.”
Democrats criticized DeSantis’ congressional proposal, with some on Thursday praising the Senate’s map-making process. Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, called the Senate process “open and fair.”
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.