Rick Scott appeals to airlines to fight ‘unconstitutional’ vaccine mandates
Rick Scott. Image via AP.

Rick Scott
No jab, no job? That's no good for Sen. Scott.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott appealed Monday to two organizations representing airlines to follow the lead of Southwest Airlines and abandon plans for COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

“I would like to applaud Southwest Airlines, which recently announced a reversal of its plan to punish unvaccinated employees. I urge your other member airlines to do the same. President (Joe) Biden’s mandates, like many of his failed domestic and foreign policies, have dubious legal authority and American companies should not be bullied by the Executive Branch to impose a vaccine mandate on their employees,” Scott asserted.

The letter to Airlines for America President Nicholas Calio and National Air Carrier Association President George Novak claimed airlines had done enough via mitigation, leaving no need for mandatory inoculations.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the commercial air travel industry has taken commendable steps to not become a vector of disease transmission thanks to effective safety protocols. With this track record of success in mitigating viral spread for airlines’ employees and customers before the COVID-19 vaccines were available, it makes no logical sense to now present the airlines’ hardworking employees with an ultimatum between involuntarily receiving a vaccine or having their employment terminated,” Scott advised.

The Senator has made variations of this case before regarding other industries with labor shortages, including truck driving. Earlier this month, he suggested his adopted father Orba Scott, who died in 2006, would have lost his job for not taking a vaccine.

“My adopted father was a truck driver. He’d be in high demand today,” Scott said. “But what does the Biden Administration want to do? They want to say that he wouldn’t get to keep his job if he had any concern about taking the vaccine. So if he had any concern about taking the vaccine, he would lose his job.”

Earlier in October, Scott castigated “Emperor Biden” for downplaying the impact of employees losing their jobs over not wanting to get vaccinated and “firing people.”

The state of Florida is moving toward a November Special Session that will attempt to offer state boundaries on federal vaccine mandates. Details are still emerging, but legislation that allows employers and students to opt out of vaccine and mask mandates will likely result.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Scott’s successor in office, said the issue “can’t wait” for the regular Legislative Session in January.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


6 comments

  • Chapter Cavanaugh

    October 25, 2021 at 4:01 pm

    They’re not idiots. If everyone is too sick and they have to shut down travel, then their planes stay on the ground. Planes on the ground = No revenue.

  • Kathy

    October 25, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    I wish my parents were still alive so I could thank them for having the good sense to get me vaccinated and kept track of when I needed booster shots. I saw polio. Perry lived 2 houses away and passed at 14. I saw measles and rubella. I almost lost my son to epiglottitis at 10 months old. That along with meningitis are now covered in those early vaccines. You can bet your ass they would have made sure I was protected from Covid, not only the vaccine, but from people who didn’t care about other human beings.
    “Pardon my sanity in a world insane.”
    Emily Dickinson 1830-1886
    “When vaccinations become available get one and please just wear a mask.”
    Dr. Adeline Fagan 1993-2020

    • FRANK GIRARD

      October 26, 2021 at 5:35 pm

      Good God Karen, sTOP GETTING ALL your INFORMATION FROM CDC FDA NBC PBS ,All government BIG Pharma paid for sources., Polio Smallpox have a 30% death rate. Live virus vaccine tested for DECAdes;. THE corona /? ///// 98.5% survival across all demographics!!!!!!. and that is with
      –0—0— early treatment, none. what is early treatment for smallpox??
      BIg pharma cant make $$$$$$$ from ivermectin hydroxy, FOLLOW THE @#$%%%^%^ MONEY !!!!!

  • FRANK GIRARD

    October 26, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    In other words Kathy. this “VACCINE” (BIG QUOTATION MARKS) IS COMPLETELY UNnECCASSARY. it is not worth the risk. Ask yourself Where is the control group from the vaccine “trials”?. How many breakthrough cases of @#$$% smallpox and polio are there. OH that”s right you wont get as bad a CASE OF SMALLPOX. Submitted with all due respect. I pray every day I am wrong about the side effects of this ‘”vaccine”

    • Kathy

      October 31, 2021 at 1:09 pm

      Thank you Frank for all of your information, I appreciate your extensive research. As I am severely immunocompromised, I fought to get this vaccine. While our Governor was hosting his private vaccination parties in gated communities in Port Charlotte (one of them home to the president of the local Republican party), the Health Department had none for those who had registered weeks before. Now, rather than a $20 vaccine, he pushes $2000 treatments. But, I digress, apologies. Like so many situations, unless they hit home, they are a useless inconvenience. Until you lose, not one, but three extended family members Covid vaccinations are just for idiots. A final goodbye to a face in a box on your telephone is unimaginable. To take stock in any type of healthcare related comments from Rick Scott is laughable. I hope you stay healthy and are able to spend the Holidays and beyond with all of your family members. If I am a Guinea pig, then so be it. I was vaccinated for myself and for you.

  • serena

    October 27, 2021 at 7:13 am

    I did not intend for this to be so long.

    While it is hardly surprising Rick Scott is lying, it still shocks the conscience when a legislator tells a lie knowing it could very well cost that person their life/

    * no matter how often they repeat the lie
    * no matter how loudly they say the lie
    * They can say it over & over & over again non-stop 24/7/12
    ^ And it will still be untrue, a lie.

    If it cost someone their life, Rs often refer to it as “collateral damage.”.

    Nothing can change the fact that a lie is a lie is a lie, period.

    Constant lying is not normal behaviour. Nor is it in any way, shape form, or fashion … acceptable.

    Hundreds of thousands of families would not be grieving today for a lost loved one if Rs had been forthcoming with the public & encouraged everyone to wear masks & get vaccinated.

    People ought to keep in mind that
    * this pandemic is temporary – it will eventually go away
    * masks are temporary – we do not have to wear them forever
    * we wear them to t to protect the people around each the most
    * we wear them to protect our family members, friends, colleagues, et al
    * and we wear masks to protect ourselves, too
    * if we are to get control of this virus
    then we have to mask up & get vaccinated

    It really is this simple.

    And remember it is temporary

    Conversely, going without a mask prolongs the amount of time it will take to get the coronavirus spread under control. And our lives will continue to be on \hold or partial hold.
    And our health & lives will remain in jeopardy at risk

    As long as there is a host body to infect Covid will continue mutating & adapting to survive.

    The longer the time period, the greater the chance of Covid finding pockets of unvaccinated people to infect. And of concern, there is always the chance that Covid could mutate into another version or variation of itself that could be:
    * more contagious
    * more transmissible
    * more severe &
    * more deadly
    * immune to vaccines & other medicines

    Otherwise, without a host body, Covid probably cannot survive at least not for long.

    So, in the interim, I suggest you please stop putting stook into anything Donald Trump, R politicians, Fox News.QAnon, Breitbart, InfoWars, etc.., etc.., say, because what they are selling you do not want to buy -that is if you want to stay alive.

    And of course, you do not have to believe me either. But at the very least, use your common sense, logic & reasoning. Better yet, ask someone with whom you trust in the medical field, a doctor, a nurse, or a scientist.

    Finally, R lawmakers will continue echoing Trump’s lies to whoever will listen. However, those who do listen are, for the most part, the most vulnerable & probably the most apt to get really sick & possibly die as a result thereof.

    Rs have shown they just do not care.

    That is just sad, really, really sad.

Comments are closed.


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