Center for Vaccine Development director Dr. Peter Hotez said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Florida Middle District U.S. Judge Kimball Mizelle ruled against public transportation requiring passengers to mask up because she has an “ax to grind” with President Joe Biden.
Hotez said, “It was inevitable that eventually, we have to lift mask restrictions. We can’t go on like this forever. The problem is not now. The BA.2 sub-variant is accelerating, and we’re seeing a big rise in cases in Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, and hospitalizations are going up as well.”
He added, “The judge must have known that the Transportation Department, the White House was already moving in that direction to loosen mask restrictions. So from my perspective, this is nothing more than a political stunt coming out of Florida. And it has two problems. One, it puts people at risk for BA.2. The other thing is I don’t want to set a precedent where some random federal judge in Florida is overriding decisions from the Centers for Disease Control. This individual has no public health background. I think that sets a very dangerous precedent. So it might be worth having the Biden White House challenge it just on that alone. What comes next when we have another pandemic? Is every time now, you’ll have a federal judge from the state of Florida or another state that has an ax to grind with the president going to subvert public health? We can’t live as a country like that.”
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “We don’t know that she has an ax to grind with the president. I mean, this was her ruling, take it or leave it.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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