In September of last year, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo boldly announced that the Florida Department of Health that he runs, along with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, would be working to eliminate all vaccine mandates in the state. While Ladapo said some mandates would be eliminated by the state health department, eliminating other mandates, he noted, would require action by the governor and state legislature.

Now, it looks like much of the vaccine mandates, including those related to the childhood vaccination schedule, will be remaining in place because state legislators have failed to act on adopting repeal legislation. While the state Senate did approve less ambitions legislation that would make it easier for parents to seek exemption for their children, the House did not even move forward on that. In response to DeSantis calling a special session of the state legislature for this week dealing with vaccines, artificial intelligence, and redistricting, House Speaker Daniel Perez has declared the House members will just vote on redistricting on Wednesday and return home because no bills were filed regarding the other matters.

The failure of the legislature to act on issues beyond redistricting perturbed DeSantis who commented Tuesday at Twitter:

Voters elected Republicans to protect freedom against both the Big Tech cartel and the medical industrial complex.

Yet, when given the chance to deliver for their constituents, not a single Republican House member could even be bothered to file a bill.

Typical political shenanigans.

Political shenanigans indeed. Legislators rush to vote on approving district lines for political campaigns, but they shy from taking on the big money special interests, including what DeSantis aptly terms the “medical industrial complex” that routinely seeks the advancement of vaccine profits even when such comes at the cost of diminished health and violated liberty.

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.