JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – Dozens of people spending a portion of Labor Day weekend protesting any potential vaccine mandate. The protest was at the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Third Street in Jax Beach early Saturday.
Many said they are anti-vaccines. Others said they believe in getting vaccinated, but said it should not be mandated by employers, schools, or governments.
“We should be able to make our own medical decisions,” said Beth, one of the protestors. “That’s what we’re all about. Parents need to be able to choose. People need the choice. A vaccine passport is going to ruin our entire society.”
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Daniel Donovan saw the protest. He is vaccinated and believes others need to follow suit.
“I believe in the vaccine,” Donovan said. “I have gotten vaccinated. Everyone in my life around me I know has gotten vaccinated. It’s just too risky of a chance.”
The protest follows Governor Ron DeSantis defending his stance on a bill he signed earlier this year, banning vaccine passports.
He said starting September 16, he will hand out $5,000 fines to businesses, schools, and government agencies that require people to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination.
“I think some of this stuff with the vaccine passport, I mean it’s an overreach is too intrusive and at the end of the day,” he said during a press conference Friday. My philosophy is, as a governor, my job is to protect your individual freedom. My job is not to protect corporate freedom.”
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat hoping to challenge for governor next year, is critical of the potential fines.
She said the practice is “an insult to the free market principles that he claims to champion.
When it comes to vaccines, only people 12 years old and older are eligible to be vaccinated.
No schools are requiring students to be vaccinated currently.
Health care providers can require people to show their vaccine status and if a workplace requires vaccinations, it can fire an employee for refusing to show their status
As of mid-August, the state was averaging 244 deaths per day, up from just 23 a day in late June and eclipsing the previous peak of 227 during the summer of 2020. (Because of both the way deaths are logged in Florida and lags in reporting, more recent figures on fatalities per day are incomplete.)
Hospitals have had to rent refrigerated trucks to store more bodies. Funeral homes have been overwhelmed.