Jan 19 (Reuters) – A top Florida public health official has been put on administrative leave as officials investigate whether he violated a state ban by emailing employees about their low vaccination rate against COVID-19 and urging them to get shots.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican widely believed to be planning a run for the U.S. presidency, in November signed a law banning schools, businesses and government entities from requiring vaccination against COVID-19, drawing condemnation from health experts and Democratic leaders.
The Florida Department of Health said it was conducting an inquiry to determine if any laws were broken.
In the Jan. 4 email, Pino said he had pulled vaccination data for his 568 active employees, and that less than half had two doses while only 14% had their booster, according to WFTV.
Pino, who helped spearhead Florida’s response to the pandemic, was not immediately reachable for comment.
Florida was among several conservative-led states who sued the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to stop it from enforcing a now-defunct vaccine mandate for large businesses put in place by President Joe Biden.
The Supreme Court last week blocked that mandate – a policy the conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans – while endorsing a separate federal vaccine requirement for health care facilities.