Vaccination production and distribution has been the tentpole of President Joe Biden’s strategy to mitigate the U.S. effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, but he has faced stern resistance not only from those who question the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines but also from those who resent the government’s role in the process, particularly now that jobs are at stake. It’s a fight that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis eagerly has taken up, and his fight has delivered results.
DeSantis, on this list last year for erecting interstate travel barriers in the pandemic’s early days, throughout 2021 sparred against efforts by government and business to require masks or vaccines for employees and clients. Some fights, he lost: DeSantis tried to forbid cruise ships embarking in his state from requiring vaccine passports of passengers, but a federal judge ruled against him. But he’s also pushing back against Biden’s plan to require private companies with at least 100 workers to require employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or be subject to weekly testing, and that battle is bearing more fruit.
DeSantis last month signed state legislation that levies fines of at least $10,000 on businesses that require employee vaccinations without offering a list of exemptions. Within days, Walt Disney World, one of the state’s largest employees, in response dropped plans to require employee vaccinations, as did other companies. Whether and how the existence of such a law will affect corporates’ meeting site-selection is yet to be determined, but given the state’s importance to the meeting and convention industry, it bears watching when live meetings begin to return.
How Biden’s and DeSantis’ respective mandates could coexist hasn’t been settled; given the legal challenges to Biden’s plan, a court likely will decide.