(PANAMA CITY, Fla.) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he wants to permanently ban all mandates related to COVID-19.

In a press release, DeSantis, a Republican, said he is proposing legislation that will prevent employment decisions based on COVID-19 vaccination status and prevent schools or businesses from requiring face coverings. 

The legislation would specifically prohibit COVID-19 vaccine passports in Florida; prohibit vaccine and mask requirements in Florida schools; prohibit masking requirements by businesses; and prohibit employees from being hired or fired based on whether or not they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

These would extend a number of measures DeSantis signed in 2021, which he has previously called “unscientific” and “unnecessary,” which were set to expire in July.

“When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedom’s linchpin,” DeSantis said in a statement. “These measures will ensure Florida remains this way and will provide landmark protections for free speech for medical practitioners.”

During a speech in Panama City, DeSantis criticized state-level and national-level efforts to reinstate mask and vaccine mandates, claiming these measures clash with personal freedom.

“It required us over the past few years to stand against major institutions in our society: the bureaucracy, the medical establishment, legacy media and even the president of the United States who, together, were working to impose a bio-medical security state on society,” he said.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, DeSantis has been outspoken about his opposition to lockdowns and closures.

The move was backed by Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. Since Ladapo assumed the position in September 2021, he has been accused by many experts of spreading misinformation on COVID-19 and promoting vaccine hesitancy.

In March 2022, Ladapo recommended healthy children in Florida not receive the COVID-19 vaccine, directly contradicting guidelines from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“As a health sciences researcher and physician, I have personally witnessed accomplished scientists receive threats due to their unorthodox positions,” Ladapo said in a statement. “However, many of these positions have proven to be correct, as we’ve all seen over the past few years. All medical professionals should be encouraged to engage in scientific discourse without fearing for their livelihoods or their careers.”

DeSantis, whose name has been floated as a possible GOP candidate in 2024, called for an investigation last month into whether Floridians were misled by pharmaceutical companies about the safety and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

The Florida Supreme Court agreed to DeSantis’s request for a grand jury, which will meet for one year before making a decision.

Liberal and conservative voters have been divided on COVID-19 vaccines and mandates since the shots were first rolled out.

According to a December 2022 update to the Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, 38% of Democrats have gotten the updated bivalent booster compared to 12% of Republicans.

The most common answers for why they haven’t received the booster include not thinking they needed it or not thinking that the benefit is worth it.

Smaller shares reported bad side effects from previous COVID-19 vaccine doses and waiting to see if COVID-19 cases increase in their area.

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(NEW YORK) — A forthcoming book by a former prosecutor could harm the ongoing criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump and his family real estate company, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Wednesday.

That investigation led to the recent conviction of the Trump Organization and appeared to accelerate again on Tuesday when Bragg met with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, about the hush payment Cohen says he helped arrange to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who alleged a long-denied affair with Trump.

The book’s author, former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, was assigned to the Trump case by then-District Attorney Cy Vance. Pomerantz and another senior prosecutor, Carey Dunne, quit last February over their disagreements with Bragg about how the case should proceed.

Pomerantz’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced last week that the book, entitled “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” will be released next month.

Bragg’s office sent a letter to both Simon & Schuster and Pomerantz, expressing concern that the book could interfere with the ongoing investigation.

“Based on the pre-publication descriptions of his book and the benefit of current knowledge of the matter, but without access to the manuscript, this Office believes there is a meaningful risk that the publication will materially prejudice ongoing criminal investigations and related adjudicative proceedings,” read the letter, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News.

The letter was signed by Bragg’s general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, and requested 60 days to review the manuscript, which would delay the Feb. 7 publication date.

“The District Attorney’s interest here is to protect the integrity of this Office’s pending criminal investigations and proceedings regarding the former President,” the letter said. “The Office urges Mr. Pomerantz not to take any further steps that would damage an ongoing criminal investigation.”

In a statement provided to ABC News, Pomerantz said, “I am confident that all of my actions with respect to the Trump investigation, including the writing of my forthcoming book, are consistent with my legal and ethical obligations.”

Representatives for Simon & Schuster told ABC News in a statement, “We stand behind Mark Pomerantz and his book, People vs. Donald Trump, and look forward to sharing this important and timely work with readers when it is published on February 7.”

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