{"id":35463,"date":"2022-06-03T20:01:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T20:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/no-vax-required-after-desantis-threatens-fine\/"},"modified":"2022-06-03T20:01:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T20:01:01","slug":"no-vax-required-after-desantis-threatens-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/no-vax-required-after-desantis-threatens-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"No vax required after DeSantis threatens fine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Special Olympics bowed to pressure from Florida officials and will scrap vaccination requirements for athletes at its event this weekend after the state threatened the games&#8217; governing body with $ 27.5 million in fines, according to a report.<\/p>\n<p>The event, which is being held in Orlando, is expected to attract more than 5,500 athletes from around the country &#8211; all of whom were initially required to have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>But the organizers of the Special Olympics USA Games dropped its mandate after Florida threatened to impose penalties, according to the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There needs to be a choice in this regard,&#8221; Florida Gov.  Ron DeSantis said during a promotional event in Orlando on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet them compete.  We want everyone to be able to compete. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Last year, DeSantis banned vaccine passports and ordered the state to issue $ 5,000 fines to businesses, schools and government agencies that require people to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination.<\/p>\n<p>Jay O&#8217;Brien of ABC News was the first to report that the Special Olympics backed down from its mandate.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption>Athletes competing in this year&#8217;s Special Olympics in Orlando won&#8217;t be required to have gotten vaccinated against COVID-19.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">MEGA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>DeSantis&#8217; Health Department sent a letter to the Special Olympics International on Thursday notifying the governing body that its vaccine requirement violated state law.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Ladapo, Florida&#8217;s surgeon general, told reporters that he had been in talks with SOI over the past six months in an attempt to avoid imposing fines.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SCOOP: The State or Florida threatened the Special Olympics with $ 27.5 MILLION in fines because the organization had a vaccine requirement at its games in Orlando this weekend. <\/p>\n<p>Late yesterday, the Special Olympics pulled the requirement.  1\/3<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Jay O&#8217;Brien (@jayobtv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jayobtv\/status\/1532717916331950080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">June 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Florida&#8217;s Department of Health said the Special Olympics &#8220;was unable to bring the event into compliance for the benefit of their delegates, and reinstate all who were denied access based on proof of vaccination.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Special Olympics finally caved Thursday, issuing a statement that it had lifted its vaccine requirement and that all athletes would be eligible to participate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDelegates who were registered for the games but unable to participate due to the prior vaccine requirement, now have the option to attend,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/special-olympics-orlando-07.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"DeSantis has been one of the most vocal critics of mandatory vaccinations and other coronavirus-related lockdown measures.\" class=\"wp-image-22522843\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/special-olympics-orlando-07.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/special-olympics-orlando-07.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/special-olympics-orlando-07.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>DeSantis has been one of the most vocal critics of mandatory vaccinations and coronavirus-related lockdown measures.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe don&#8217;t want to fight,\u201d it said.  &#8220;We want to play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Florida&#8217;s governor has not shied away from taking action against businesses and organizations that take controversial public stances on key political issues. <\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Friday, it was reported that DeSantis vetoed $ 35 million in government spending for a new practice facility for the Tampa Bay Rays after the baseball team posted a tweet in support of gun control.<\/p>\n<p>The move comes just weeks after the GOP governor &#8211; and rumored 2024 presidential hopeful &#8211; stripped Disney of its self-governing status after the Mouse House came out in opposition to a new law banning explicit sex and gender education for young children.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Special Olympics bowed to pressure from Florida officials and will scrap vaccination requirements for athletes at its event this weekend after the state threatened the games&#8217; governing body with $ 27.5 million in fines, according to a report. The event, which is being held in Orlando, is expected to attract more than 5,500 athletes &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/no-vax-required-after-desantis-threatens-fine\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No vax required after DeSantis threatens fine<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[116,7171,1167,103,16892,16893,5609],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/special-olympics-orlando-comp-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}