Florida hospitals did in fact have to use refrigerated morgue trucks during the COVID surge years ago. AdventHealth rolled them out across Central Florida. Lakeland Regional and Tampa Bay hospitals brought in portable morgues. Miami-Dade secured two. Sarasota leased one. Every VA hospital in the state ordered trailers. That was the level of loss.
Now in 2025 DeSantis and Ladapo are declaring that vaccine mandates will end in Florida. They are moving to eliminate requirements not only for COVID but for measles, polio, and other childhood vaccines. Ladapo went as far as calling mandates slavery, and DeSantis backed him while saying lawmakers will finalize it.
Meanwhile RFK Jr., now at HHS, is pushing federal changes in the same direction, with a record of undermining vaccines for years.
The timeline is important. First came the pandemic and freezer trucks because death outpaced capacity. Years later, Florida leaders are dismantling the very system that prevented past outbreaks from ever needing freezer trucks in the first place.
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Florida Democrats
@FlaDems
“The DeSantis Administration’s decision to end vaccine requirements...is yet another morally bankrupt play that will make our communities less safe, all while Republicans are kicking 2 million Floridians off their healthcare," said FDP Chair Nikki Fried.
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