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Why won’t Gov. DeSantis say if he has gotten a COVID booster? | Letters
Here’s what readers are saying in Friday’s letters to the editor.
 
Gov. Ron DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis [ CHRIS O'MEARA | AP ]
Published Jan. 21, 2022

Don’t be silent

State won’t enforce health care worker vax mandate | Jan. 15

As a senior and a physician who has long been involved in public health, I wonder why Gov. Ron DeSantis will not disclose whether or not he has had a COVID booster shot? If he has and won’t say, he misses an opportunity to set an example and save lives. If he hasn’t (less likely), he is misinformed and places his own health at risk.

Why is DeSantis now personally touting state clinics for free Regeneron monoclonal antibody for the most vulnerable? It gives them a false and dangerous sense of security. Although Regeneron helps patients infected with the delta strain, it is ineffective against the omicron strain that has now taken over. If DeSantis were elderly or immunosuppressed and got sick, he most certainly would receive the much harder to get but much more effective GlaxoSmithKline monoclonal antibody Sotrovimab or the Pfizer drug Paxlovid.

Why is DeSantis against mask and vaccine mandates or at very least why doesn’t he strongly push for masks and vaccines on a voluntary basis when he knows they save lives, especially of the immunosuppressed and elderly? His supposed championship of individual freedom of choice is all transparent nonsense aimed at his base.

Arthur Pitchenik, Miami

Rich and poor

Tampa Bay’s top home sales in 2021 | Jan. 19

I was saddened to see the lavish display in the front section of the paper of extravagant homes that only a few of the 1 percent could hope to afford, while on your opinion page, there’s an editorial about evictions and desperate people calling for rent assistance. There’s always too much for the rich and never enough for the poor.

Farah Stokes, Tampa

Not stolen

Trump draws cheers at rally | Jan. 17

With Donald Trump almost certainly running in 2024 and with a majority of Republicans believing the big lie that the election was “stolen,” we can forecast where this is going. He lost the popular vote in both elections, yet his base thinks they are in the majority, and thus believe the big lie. So when he runs and is defeated in 2024, what reaction can the base have other than to revolt violently? They will believe that the election was “stolen” again.

Kirk Heller, Dunedin