Kari Lake claims DeSantis forced vaccines, governor’s campaign and office respond

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign and executive office responded after former Arizona Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake claimed he forced masks and vaccines on Floridians.

“He did force vaccines. He did force face masks on our kids,” Lake said on the PBD Podcast.

“DeSantis took a page out of Gavin Newsom’s playbook,” she said.

“He tries to act like he was perfect … he forced vaccines on people and workers. He forced face masks on children, and he was for all that,” Lake continued. “He thinks that we forgot that as well – granted, he didn’t continue the misery as long.”

Lake correctly said DeSantis shut down beaches, which he accomplished via a localized order for Broward and Palm Beach Counties in March 2020. DeSantis also in 2020 issued a stay-at-home order that lasted one month, which exempted outdoor and other activities.

Lake was one of DeSantis’ 2022 electoral endorsements, and the governor campaigned for her in-person during the election.

“This is a flat-out lie from @KariLake and she should be ashamed to say it,” said Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis’ 2024 campaign. “When it was least popular, and often while standing alone, @RonDeSantis did the things she’s only now chirping about supporting.”

“He never mandated masks or vaccines,” Griffin said. “He took the heat to lead the nation in opening up, getting kids back in school, and legislatively prohibiting these abuses from ever happening in his state again.”

Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for DeSantis’ government office, said Lake is mistaken: “It was Donald Trump that closed beaches, forced kids to wear masks and banned tag at recess, and was preparing for a military COVID vaccine mandate.”

“Gov DeSantis fought the Trump-Fauci WH task force, banned vaccine passports, and forced schools to open,” Redfern said.

DeSantis previously called Lake and then-Republican candidate for Senate Blake Masters “warriors for the people.”

Lake in 2021 referred to DeSantis as a “fantastic leader” and in 2022 as having “set the standard for conservative leadership at the state level nationwide.”

During the pandemic, DeSantis ensured schools reopened after summer break in 2020. The following summer, in mid-2021, he blocked school mask mandates by executive order.

Soon after, he signed legislation outlawing vaccine passports.

Since then, lawmakers have convened multiple times to codify protections for Floridians against COVID-19 mandates and lockdown policies.

Most recently, DeSantis signed “medical freedom” legislation in May that enshrines into state law, rather than relying on executive order or agency rulemaking, protections for Floridians against any mandates for COVID-19 testing, masking or vaccination.

The laws also ban gain of function research and aim to support physicians’ freedom of speech.

“Our early actions during the pandemic protected Floridians and their freedoms,” DeSantis said of the new laws.

“We protected the rights of Floridians to make decisions for themselves and their children and rejected COVID theater, narratives, and hysteria in favor of truth and data,” DeSantis said. “These expanded protections will help ensure that medical authoritarianism does not take root in Florida.”