PLANT CITY — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday offered a sneak peek at two priorities for the 2026 legislative session — both of which revamp proposals he unsuccessfully pushed this year: eliminating vaccine mandates and allowing open-carry of firearms.
During a press conference here, DeSantis defended his administration’s proposal last week to eliminate from rule and statute all vaccine mandates. State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made the announcement, arguing mandates drip “with disdain and slavery.”
Ladapo acknowledged to CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” over the weekend that the state had conducted no studies before deciding to eliminate vaccine mandates.
DeSantis on Monday came out strong in defense of Ladapo.
“He never said he’d take away availability [of vaccines]. Obviously that’s not his position. But I think his position is if you provide information and persuasion, that’s better than coercion.”
DeSantis, who initially embraced the COVID-19 vaccine and deviated from the federal distribution plan to make sure they were given in Florida first to seniors, fell back on familiar rhetoric about the federal government’s handling of vaccine and mask mandates and government shutdowns, and instead touted Florida’s approach to the pandemic.
DeSantis alleged that people have grown skeptical of government direction following the pandemic.
“When they’re telling you, even if they’re right, I think some people are pushing back against it. It’s going to take time to rebuild trust there. And I think what the surgeon general’s position is, the way you build trust is to provide information and use persuasion rather than try to ostracize people from society if they make a different choice.”
The DeSantis administration last year proposed legislation (HB 1299) that would have required health care facilities and providers to treat patients regardless of whether they were vaccinated.
Although the House agreed to the language, passing HB 1299 by a near-unanimous vote, state Sen. Gayle Harrell, a Republican from Stuart whose late husband had been a physician, warned that the requirement would open doctors to increased liability. Jason Pizzo, a no-party affiliation senator from Hollywood, said requiring a physician to treat unvaccinated patients would run afoul of a 2023 law that allows physicians to withhold care based on conscience.
The provision was one of two related to vaccines included in the Department of Health (DOH) bill. The initial language would have indefinitely saved from repeal the statutory definition of “messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine” (mRNA) and along with it a ban on businesses, government entities, and educational institutions from discriminating against people who refuse mRNA vaccines.
The Legislature had agreed in 2021 to put the mRNA definition in statute along with the protections for people who wouldn’t take mRNA vaccines, essentially blocking any move in the state from requiring vaccine passports. But the 2021 law expired in four years, or June 2025. The DeSantis administration wanted to extend the mRNA definition and protections indefinitely.
But the Legislature refused to go along and agreed to keep the definition and subsequent ban in statutes only until June 2027.
DeSantis criticized the Legislature for not signing off on those provisions in HB 1299.
Regarding the mNRA definition, DeSantis said: “That’s got to be made permanent. I mean everyone is glad that we did that. Even the far left, I don’t hear them, at least publicly they won’t admit they’re for vaccine passports. It doesn’t make sense. So they need to do that.”
Regarding requiring physicians and facilities to treat unvaccinated patients the governor said:
“I get on some levels if someone comes for medical care and you’re just in private practice. I don’t know if you’re under any obligation to necessarily see everybody — I mean, you’d have to talk to doctors about that. I get there’s a business component to this.
“But to say that a mom can’t get her daughter in to see a pediatrician because, while they did MMR (measles mumps and rubella) and all the standard vaccines, they didn’t do maybe Hep B or COVID or some of those. To me, that’s discrimination. I mean, that is limiting people’s freedom to do what they think is right for their kids by having these restrictions.”
Former state senator-turned Lt. Gov. Jay Collins sponsored the companion to HB 1299 in the Senate, SB 1270.
Gun pitch
DeSantis on Monday also made a pitch for open carry.
Florida is one of just a handful of states (and the only red state) that prohibits people from openly carrying firearms in public.
DeSantis said that, with Republicans in supermajority control of both chambers of the Florida Legislature, it shouldn’t be a problem getting the bill passed.
“It’s not something that’s controversial,” he said. “The sky hasn’t fallen in any of those [states which have legalized open carry].
Although the governor called out the House for failing to pass such legislation, in fact it’s been Senate leaders who in recent years have said that they don’t support open carry.
Senate President Ben Albritton said last year that he’s supported law enforcement his entire life, and stood with them in opposing open carry. He cited opposition from the Florida Sheriffs Association
However Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey told Luis Valdes, Florida state director of Gun Owners of America, in January that he believes the majority of Florida sheriffs now do support legalizing open carry in Florida.
Collins also made the case for open carry during Monday’s press conference.
“We should be an open-carry state,” he said. “I think that we’re on record many times saying that. Hopefully, this is the year. We will continue to fight for those freedoms and those rights, each and every day until we get them all back.”
Collins never introduced legislation supporting open carry during his three terms as a state senator representing Hillsborough County.
Second Amendment advocates have heard DeSantis make similar pleas for the Legislature on open carry in previous years to no success. One such group has called for a special legislative session to get lawmakers on the record about where they stand on this issue.
“Gun Owners of America is thankful for Gov. DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins supporting open carry,” Valdes said.
“But we feel that the rubber needs to meet the road, and that a special session needs to be called specifically for open carry and gun rights as a whole, so the Republican supermajority can lay bare where they truly stand on gun rights. If they vote down a special session, then gun owners going into 2026 know which lawmakers actually support and defend the Second Amendment.”
DeSantis again criticized a Florida law passed in 2018 that bans individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing a long gun. The Florida House has passed a measure repealing that law over the past three legislative sessions, but the Senate has never followed suit.
DeSantis and Collins spoke at a sporting goods store in Plant City, where they kicked off the press conference by announcing what they are calling a “ Second Amendment tax free holiday” that takes place until the end of the year.
That means that all purchases of firearms, ammunition, firearm accessories, crossbows, and accessories for bows and crossbows in Florida are tax free up until December 31. Camping and fishing supply purchases are also tax-free until the remainder of the year.
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
