As Ron DeSantis celebrates another trip around the sun, thanks in part to the COVID-19 vaccine he quietly received this spring, he is spending his birthday week undermining vaccines and complicity standing by as anti-vaxxers spew dangerous lies. DeSantis’ commitment to playing politics continues to threaten the lives of MORE Floridians as the child COVID death rate more than doubles and hospitalizations continue to rise.

So what are Floridians reading?

• Florida Politico Playbook: “DeSantis’ anti-mandate stance edges him closer to anti-vaxxers”
• Florida Politico Playbook: “The governor stood quietly by as Gainesville employees upset with a vaccine mandate suggested that taking the vaccine could kill them or alter their genes.”
• Florida Politics: “DeSantis said Monday that cities and counties in the state could face millions of dollars in fines for requiring that their employees get vaccinated against the coronavirus, the latest escalation in Republican leaders’ opposition to public health mandates.”
• Tampa Bay Times: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stood silently Monday as employees for the City of Gainesville repeated misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines during a news conference set up by his office.”
• Tampa Bay Times: “Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida will fine local governments $5,000 for each employee who is required to be vaccinated, threatening some cities and counties with millions of dollars in penalties for adopting strict vaccine ‘mandates.’ During a Monday news conference in Gainesville, DeSantis vowed to fight that city’s requirement that employees be vaccinated by the end of the month or be fired.”