The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Florida will no longer require participating athletes to get vaccinated against COVID-19 after the state threatened the organization with a hefty $27.5 million fine.
The event’s vaccine mandate went against Florida’s ban on “vaccine passports” and was “not the right thing to do,” Gov. Ron DeSantis argued during a press briefing on Friday, one day after Florida alerted the Special Olympics International of the fine, according to ABC News.
“Your rights or your freedoms should not be circumscribed by your decision to take or not to take a COVID vaccine,” DeSantis said. “That was inappropriate. At the end of the day, our view was there has to be choice in this regard.”
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A representative for DeSantis rejected the idea that the governor “threatened” the Special Olympics to change its policy.
“It’s not a matter of being ‘threatened’ with anything. Florida has laws, and nobody is above the law. Special Olympics International was in violation of Florida’s law banning vaccine passports, which was signed by Gov. DeSantis last year. The Florida Department of Health enforces this law, and they had sent a letter to Special Olympics International yesterday,” Christina Pushaw, a representative for DeSantis, told the Washington Examiner.
Stressing the importance of freedom of choice, DeSantis claimed a child from Kansas with Down syndrome was only offered an exemption after he suffered a seizure from the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The process was “so unnecessary” and “totally ridiculous,” the governor said.
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Delegates who were registered for the Special Olympic Games but were unable to participate due to not being vaccinated will now get to attend the event, the organization announced Thursday.
The event will be held from June 5 to June 12.
