Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is again declining to say whether he has or would receive a COVID-19 booster shot.
During a Friday morning news conference in Sarasota, DeSantis was asked by a reporter if he had gotten the booster.
“That’s something that I think people should just make their own decisions on,” he said. “I’m not going to let that be a weapon for people to be able to use. I think it’s a private matter.”
DeSantis has declined to say in the past whether he would receive the booster shot. The Governor’s office confirmed he received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine in spring 2021, saying he preferred the single-dose vaccine because it was still effective at preventing serious illness.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
The Governor, an outspoken critic of vaccine mandates and who signed an executive order banning such mandates, later added that the push for boosters could be political in motivation.
“I have said publicly that the FDA recommended against boosters for people in my age group, but the CDC overrode that, and I think that was based on politics,” he said. “I don’t think that was based on science.”
Local
The CDC recommends additional doses and booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines in specific instances.
Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump slammed politicians who refuse to say whether they have received COVID-19 booster shots as “gutless.”
“You gotta say it. Whether you had it or not, say it,” Trump said in an interview that aired on the conservative One America News Network.
Trump, who was booed last month by supporters after revealing he had gotten a booster shot, has become increasingly vocal in calling out those who have questioned the vaccines’ efficacy and safety.
“Well, I’ve taken it. I’ve had the booster,” Trump said in the interview. “I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ .... And they, ‘Oh, oh,’ they’re answering it — like in other words, the answer is ‘Yes,’ but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless.”
Get updates on COVID-19 in your inbox. Click here to sign up for our weekly coronavirus newsletter.
DeSantis, a rising star in the Republican Party, is often mentioned as a possible contender who could take on former President Trump as the party's 2024 presidential nominee.
“So I’ve done whatever I did, the normal shot. And, you know, that, at the end of the day, is people’s individual decisions about what they want to do,” DeSantis told Fox News Channel host Maria Bartiromo last month.
