TALLAHASSEE, Florida, Hundreds gathered outside the Florida Capitol on Tuesday, urging lawmakers to ban masks, prohibit COVID-19 vaccinations for children, and protect unvaccinated workers from job loss.
Around 400 people attended the Rally for Medical Freedom, waving signs and hearing from speakers representing 25 organizations, while vaccine and mask mandates sparked statewide controversy.
Government summoned the Lawmakers to come into Tallahassee for a special Meeting where the Agenda is to pass the bills addressing the issues related to COVID-19 mandates.
There are many bills to be discussed on, and one of them proposes that lawmakers establish guidelines allowing employees to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine, but providing legal protections and exemptions in the workplace. They can deny receiving the Vaccine due to medical problems such as Pregnancy, or anticipated pregnancy, or natural immunity if it is confirmed by an Antibody test.
The Bill requires the workers to be denied the vaccination if they want to wear PPE Kit (Personal Protective Equipment). And if the employees want to take a test, then the test will be free of cost provided by the State Department of Health.
The bill also ordered the Employers to exempt their workers if they belong to any Religious reason and can be exempted by getting vaccinated.
The bill also states that if the Employer forces their workers to be getting vaccinated then a Legal Investigation will occur and the Employer can be fined up to $ 10,000 to $ 50,000.
Lawyer Jeff Childers stated that, “I believe the bill was drafted to bypass Biden’s mandates in case they are not overturned by a court”.
Childers runs a small law firm in Gainesville. He has been handling many cases related to the mandate since mid of 2020. He organized a nationwide group of lawyers sharing files and strategies to fight vaccine and camouflage mandates.
Another Part of the Bill is to ban Vaccination for the Students. DeSantis promised to ban child vaccinations in Florida, while the bill let the parents or adult students take legal actions against schools and recover legal fees.
Childers explains that this is crucial because it will encourage more lawyers to investigate these cases, knowing they’ll be paid if they get success.
The Legislation Assembly said that “An educational institution or government agency cannot mandate COVID-19 vaccination for any full-time, or part-time or contractual employees”.
Any problematic rules or regulations that are revoked, and dismissed for refusing the vaccine, may receive government employment assistance.
Another Law was made mandatory in other states that the use of masks will be prohibited in Schools and the Students along with the Staffs will not be forced anymore to get quarantined if they show no symptoms related to CoronaVirus.
The new laws will expire on June 1, 2023, till they are renewed by the Legislative Assembly.
Childers desires lawmakers to finalize the vaccine bills, ensuring protection against discrimination for non-vaccinated employees in hiring and the workplace.
A bill was also considered that would require Florida to create a new health and safety management system, allowing the state to remove federal OSHA failure. This process may take time.
If the Bill passed, the law would immediately revoke health officials to mandate vaccinations— welcomed by Childers and other Advocates of medical freedom.
However, some opponents of vaccination and mask bans remain unsatisfied. They are begging representatives to repeal bills that only allow for vaccination waivers rather than banning the requirements together.
Childers warned at last and said that legal challenges might not be done quickly enough to protect thousands of workers at risk of losing their jobs.
Former Orange County Fire and Rescue Battalion chief Stephen Davis—fired last October for refusing employees who skipped the COVID-19 vaccine—spoke to a crowd, “We all need to stand up and be leaders.”
Similarly, Michelle Childers, wife of Jeff Childers and a spokesperson for groups like ‘Alachua Moms’ for Freedom and the Alliance for Responsible Government, acknowledged divisions among conservatives over the approach but noted, “This is a good score but It’s not perfect, but it will give us some relief.”
