Firefighters angry over vaccine mandate confront Orange County mayor
Orange County’s attorney said Tuesday the county has nothing to fear from the Gov. Ron DeSantis' threat to fine local governments for requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“What we’re dealing with from the governor is, at this point, tweets, and I guess statements made at a campaign rally,” Orange County Attorney Jeff Newton said. “What we haven’t received from the governor is the courtesy of a letter that tells us why it is he believes that local governments cannot mandate vaccinations for its employees.”
DeSantis said on Monday that the state would start issuing $5,000 fines per individual to cities and counties that require its employees to be vaccinated. He cited a bill passed by state lawmakers this year banning so-called “vaccine-passports.”
But Orange County’s attorney says that law does not apply to municipalities.
“Senate Bill 2006, and the sections being cited by the governor, have absolutely nothing to do with the employer-employee relationship,” Newton said. “I think it is a specious argument that the governor or his attorney general is making, trying to fit a square peg into a round box basically.”
A group of Orange County Fire Rescue employees are protesting the requirement, and some of them spoke at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.
"Since this mandate has been out, I have not been able to sleep, I have not been able to eat that much," one employee said.
But Mayor Jerry Demings said his focus is on saving lives.
“I believe that irrespective of the scientific information that will be presented to some people, they still will not make decisions in their best interests, because they have been too tainted previously and they have lost that objectivity,” Demings said.
The county is requiring all employees to get a first dose of the vaccine by Sept. 30, and the second dose by Oct. 31.
Officials say 72% of employees have already been vaccinated as of Sept. 13.