On Oct. 29, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he would call a special session of the Florida legislature to vote on banning the Biden administration’s effort to have private companies enact vaccine mandates. During a Nov. 8 press teleconference, DeSantis’ Chief of Staff James Uthmeier said drafts of the legislation should be released by tomorrow morning at the latest and “as soon as the end of today.”
“We put in the legislation that women who are pregnant or who anticipate becoming pregnant are most certainly exempt from any vaccine requirement,” Uthmeier said during the teleconference, adding that “anybody who has already had COVID-19 and recovered will be exempt from any vaccine requirement.”
Uthmeier also stated that all employees, whether they have applied for a qualified exemption or not, must be given the option to choose between either periodic testing or use of PPE as an alternative to any vaccine requirements—at no cost to the employees.
“So this is truly a prohibition on vaccine mandates being implemented by businesses,” he said.
Asked if there will be any protections in the law for private companies against the vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), DeSantis’ Press Secretary Christina Pushaw said that, while they “do envision that,” the new legislation will involve a litigation strategy.