DeSantis: ‘The White House is Lying,’ Florida Did Not Reverse Course on Vaccines for Kids

June 20, 2022 Updated 11:22 A.M. ET

CALLAHAN (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the White House Monday for “lying” about Florida’s response to health officials approving the COVID vaccine for kids under five. 

Governor DeSantis said Thursday Florida would not pre-order the vaccine or participate in the distribution of the vaccine for children under 5 years of age. However, the Governor said then that the vaccine would be available at healthcare facilities. 

However, the White House said the DeSantis administration is “now permitting” health care providers to order COVID vaccines for young children, insinuating that the DeSantis administration originally prohibited providers from giving the vaccine.

But Governor DeSantis said healthcare providers were always allowed to order the vaccines.

“Not surprised the White House would lie,” he said. “Definitely not surprised that legacy media would amplify the lie because that’s what they do.”

Over the weekend, news outlets across the country ran with the story claiming the Governor “reversed course.” DeSantis administration officials worked to combat the misinformation. 

DeSantis Admin Urges Media to Fix ‘False’ Reports Claiming Florida ‘Reversed Course’ With Vaccines

Florida did not pre-order the COVID vaccines because the state does not recommend the vaccine be administered to healthy children. 

“And quite frankly, if someone wants to make a different decision, I would just caution people to look at the actual data in the clinical trial,” DeSantis said.