Gov Ron DeSantis asks grand jury to investigate whether Floridians were MISLED by COVID vaccine

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis is launching a probe into the Covid vaccines to investigate ‘any and all wrongdoing’ in regards to the shots.

The Governor, who has long been a critic of the shots, is joining the state’s Supreme Court to launch a grand jury investigation into the vaccines, how they were used in Florida and nay long-term harms that could have come as a result. He compared the situation to that of the opioid epidemic.

Dr Joseph Ladapo, the Sunshine state’s surgeon general, was featured on a roundtable where the announcement was made as well, where he said the ‘risk is much higher [with the Covid vaccines]… not in the same ballpark as other vaccines].

Gov DeSantis also announced that Florida is creating a Public Health Integrity Committee, which may operate as a replacement to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC and Gov DeSantis have repeatedly clashed during the pandemic over masks, vaccines and about the reopening of cruise liners in the state.

This announcement comes as new research finds the shots likely prevented 3million deaths during the pandemic. The price of Pfizer’s shot, the most popular in the US, is expected to increase six-fold to $130 next year.

Gov Ron DeSantis (pictured) said he planned to launch a probe into Covid vaccine manufacturers

Pfizer is charging $130 for its COVID-19 vaccine  – a 10,000% mark-up from the estimated $1.18 it costs them to develop a single dose of the vaccine. The firm was charging the US government around $20 per shot but rose prices in an effort to make up for poor demand for the jabs. It is forecasted to rake in over $100billion in revenue this year, and brought in $81.2billion last year. These figures well clear the $40billion per year it was earning the years prior. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has earned $50million in compensation over the past two years, while BioNTech found Dr Ugar Sahin is now a billionaire.

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‘Today, I’m announcing a petition with the Supreme Court of Florida to enpanel a statewide grand jury to investigate any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to Covid vaccines,’ Gov DeSantis said during the ‘COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Accountability Roundtable’ held Tuesday.

He compared the Covid vaccines to deadly opioid drugs, that have formed into a pandemic of their own. 

The state reached a settlement of nearly $700million with Walgreens earlier this year over the pharmacy chain’s involvement in the state’s opioid crisis. 

Gov DeSantis did not make it clear what the probe was searching for, but did imply vaccine manufacturers had misled the public. 

Pfizer and Moderna, both leading manufacturers of the mRNA vaccines, did not immediately reply to a DailyMail.com request for comment. 

The firebrand governor has been one of the leading critics of the CDC, Covid vaccines and pandemic related orders like mask and shot mandates over the past two years.

Dr Ladapo, who was appointed to his post by the governor in September 2021, has also emerged as a leading critic of the shots.

He made headlines in March when he recommended healthy children not receive the Covid vaccines, making Florida the first and only state to officially oppose the shots.

His decision was backed by the Governor, who said at a roundtable earlier this year: ‘The data that’s coming in on this is showing for healthy kids very little benefit in terms of what the vaccine is doing and that’s weighed against the fact that they’re at very, very low risk.

‘Individuals can make their own decision… but I think the data is in line with what the surgeon general recommended.’

The pair cited the little risk children face from Covid. Minors in the US make up around 0.01 percent of the nation’s 1million deaths, according to CDC data. 

The move was widely criticized by local and national health experts, including by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Gov DeSantis doubled-down in June, saying his state would not launch any programs to help rollout the shots to toddlers or infants.

The Pfizer vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for children as young as six months old.

Dr Ladapo took the criticism of the shots a step further in October, when he recommended men aged 18 to 39 not receive the vaccines either. 

The surgeon general cited a study that found men of that age who received the shot suffered an 84 percent increased risk of cardiac death.

Some experts dispute these findings, though, and say the study had major statistical flaws. 

One of the main problems is that it does not weed out people who tested positive for Covid — which itself can cause heart inflammation and other issues. 

These shots have fallen out-of-favor with Americans is recent months, though.

Demand for the vaccines has cratered in recent months, and bivalent Covid shots rolled out by both Pfizer and Moderna have seen little uptake.

The CDC reports that only 42million Americans have received the shot since they became available at the end on August – only 13.5 percent of the eligible population.

This lack of demand, and because the government will no longer but the shots in bulk and provide them to Americans for free, spurred Pfizer to increase its price for the shots to $130 per dose starting sometime next year.

The federal government was previously spending around $20 per each dose procured.