DeSantis defends Florida's decision to be only state not to preorder Covid vaccines for kids under 5

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday defended his state's decision not to preorder Covid-19 vaccines for children under 5 years old ahead of federal vaccine regulators' long-awaited, expected authorization.

"There's not going to be any state programs that are going to be trying to, you know, get Covid jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns," DeSantis, a Republican, said at a news conference in South Florida. (The Food and Drug Administration's authorization would apply to children older than 6 months, not newborns.) "That's not something that we think is appropriate, and so that's not where we're going to be utilizing our resources in that regard."

DeSantis said Thursday that the "risks outweigh the benefits" of vaccinating young children. Studies have affirmed the safety of vaccines, and health experts have been very critical of the Florida Department of Health's previous recommendation against vaccinating healthy children between 5 and 17.