Ron DeSantis Gambles on Vaccine Grievance

The Florida governor launches a risky political attack as he takes the pole position in 2024 speculation.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (Phelan M. Ebenhack for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t running for president yet, but try telling Republican voters that. Several polls last week found DeSantis in a remarkably strong early position, leading former President Donald Trump by double digits in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. 

Those results didn’t come out of nowhere. DeSantis’ star has been rising for years, thanks in large part to a reputation for canny political positioning; he has managed to maintain his MAGA bona fides without alienating nearly so many voters in the middle as did Trump.

But DeSantis is now moving farther and farther into one area Trump largely avoided: conspiracy-mongering about the COVID-19 vaccines.

During a roundtable with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo last Tuesday on the topic of the alleged harms caused by COVID-19 shots, DeSantis concluded with a surprise announcement: He had asked the Florida Supreme Court to call a grand jury to “investigate any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to COVID-19 vaccines.”

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  1. Avatar photo
    Rdpulfer

    I hate to even put this out there but . . . what if DeSantis clinches the Presidency and there's another pandemic? Will he still be railing on vaccines then? If doesn't even have to be a large pandemic - what if there's another tripledemic but there's a RSV vaccine available? Will DeSantis risk alienating the culture warriors he already recruited? I can see the appeal - there's a large number of the MAGA constituency that subscribes to this idea that COVID vaccines are laughably horrible - but how far can you appeal to your voter base before you have to break with their vision of reality?

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  2. Brett

    There is conflicting evidence. AP and Reuters fact checks argue no testing at all and this was disclosed. But I stopped citing that because the actual Pfizer protocol has testing at the outset and upon symptoms observed, but nothing as to participants who have no symptoms. Regularly testing the participants, symptomatic or not, would be helpful no?

    So what I cite now is this NIH study which clearly states they had no data on which to assess any reduction in asymptomatic transmission, so they assumed it would be half as good as the measured reduction in symptoms. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7709178/

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    Ben Connelly

    Yeah this was a bad move by DeSantis. Previously he’s been somewhat smart about the fights he’s picked but this was dumb.

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      PaulH

      Definitely agree. This stance may gain him a bit of support among the most extreme populists but those are the people most wedded to Trump. On the other hand, it has the potential to cause him to lose support among the vaccine supporting moderate right and center (think suburban moms) -- which votes in both the primary and the general. His previous stance of "pro-vaccine but anti-mandate "probably got him most of the Trump supporter he could win on this issue without alienating anyone (other than people too left to vote for him anyway).

      Oh, and it is a stupid action anyway.

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        Ben Connelly

        Yeah it definitely makes me think twice about voting for him in the general. Depends who’s running against him. I’ll probably vote for him in the primary to beat Trump. But if the LP doesn’t nominate a lunatic (which they actually might do), I’ll vote LP again in the general.

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  4. Just Dean

    In further support of a point made by Andrew about DeSantis claiming the companies and the Government knowingly lied/misled the public about the vaccines preventing transmission, I spent 10 minutes online and found evidence contradicting that claim.

    Quote from the Petition by DeSantis: "9. Various state and federal health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), held the belief that the vaccines prevented transmission"

    December 11, 2020, FDA press release for the EUA. : "At this time, data are not available to make a determination about how long the vaccine will provide protection, nor is there evidence that the vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from person to person."

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      PaulH

      It is also confusing that there is so much focus on "preventing" transmission -- that is a high bar. There was at times evidence that the vaccines reduced the likelihood of transmission (which is a real public health good) but evidence for total prevention was never there.

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    2. Petera

      Timing. Things changed quickly. Our understanding of vaccine effectiveness evolved with more data. The virus mutated.

      People may have said things at one time that were true (or reasonably believed to be true) that later were not because the virus mutated or because new data changed the picture.

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      1. Just Dean

        I realized my comment was poorly worded and have edited it. I was trying to support Andrew’s article. Just wanted to clarify that.

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    Connie

    Ugh. This is going to turnoff a lot of educated independents and lean-righters.

    Heck, I am right (not far, not near), and I find it distasteful.

    Science is science.

    Sport is sport.

    Politics is politics.

    Politics should not be in science, just as politics should not be in sports.

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    1. Just Dean

      Science is never partisan, but always political.

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      Erik.Kravets

      The investigation will lead to a discussion and that will probably be the end of it, just like DeSantis arresting and then later releasing almost all of the 20 odd people he had arrested for voter fraud issues.

      I find it better to address these grievances through the system rather than stifling any discussion by calling it unacceptable.

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        PaulH

        @Erik.Kravet: Whether the discussion is "acceptable" is not really the issue. The question is whether or not this is a reasonable thing for the State of Florida to be investigating. I don't see any reasonable basis for this investigation and it seems politically misguided. So, yeah, I am going to criticize DeSantis for initiating it.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Erik.Kravets

          Of course, go ahead! Free speech is great.

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        Pat Riot

        A "discussion" driven by pure partisan politics is not going to teach anybody anything.

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          Erik.Kravets

          If you are looking for a different kind of discussion, you'd need to look for it in a different kind of venue (e.g. a university, or PBS).

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            Pat Riot

            DeSantis is not engaging in a "discussion", he's performing a show trial for the benefit of anti-vaxxers.

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  6. S1gins

    Good article but to mention the so called Florida Surgeon General without mentioning that he is off the rails crazy and aligned with the 'voodoo doctor' is a bit of a missing bit of information. From the so-called doctor's wikipedia page - During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ladapo has promoted unproven treatments, opposed vaccine and mask mandates, questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and spread falsehoods about the pandemic, contradicting professional medical organizations.[3][4][5] Ladapo has also opposed gender-affirming care and counselling for transgender and nonbinary minors.[6][7][8] From the Orlando Sentinel - https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-florida-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-rivkees-20210922-fsxpdsujwfhudiqypxgver25fm-story.html

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  7. Avatar photo
    Dina

    Excellent analysis!

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    Anne W (Raw5254)

    Good reporting, Andrew. This is exactly what I like about TD, a willingness to report openly and honestly no matter who or which side is involved.

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    Pat Riot

    And while I'm afraid to say this because it might give Republicans ideas, but how many drunks have told you, "but I drive better when I am drunk"? Now imagine DeSantis assembling a panel of cronies under the guise of "exploring" this drunken delusion in order to secure the alcoholic vote...

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  10. Avatar photo
    DougCLE

    "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t running for president yet."

    Mmmm... isn't he, though? Seems to me he's been running for president for quite some time now.

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