DeSantis Blasts '60 Minutes' Conspiracy Theory About Vaccine Distribution in Florida

[Michie]

During an interview with Fox News Monday night, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis blasted 60 Minutes, a CBS News program, for deliberately editing his comments about vaccine distribution. They did so to make it look like DeSantis was engaged in a pay-for-play scheme, which never happened. As Leah writes, there are a number of problems with their "reporting."

“Lost in this is we've vaccinated now 3.5 million senior citizens. We were the first state to say we're doing seniors first. We're not going to follow the CDC recommendation and what we have done has worked. They didn't want to discuss that and obviously they selectively edited the background. They tried to act like their was a conspiracy with Publix," DeSantis said. "They didn't tell you that we were doing African-American church vaccination drives before Publix ever gave a single shot. They didn't tell you that. They didn't tell you that hospitals were doing shots, starting in the first week of December because it did't fit the narrative."

"They don't believe in facts. It was a political narrative. It was done with malicious intent and a reckless disregard to the truth," he continued. "They were in Florida for three months, 60 Minutes, trying to drudge up any dirt they could use to smear me and the best they could come up with is a baseless conspiracy theory that was easily debunked. Not just by me, which they had to edit out, but by two very prominent Democrats in the state of Florida."

Continued below.
DeSantis Blasts '60 Minutes' Conspiracy Theory About Vaccine Distribution in Florida

 

[Hank77]

(CNN)On Sunday night, as part of a broader piece about the vaccination efforts in Florida, "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi noted that Publix, a grocery store that had partnered with the state to distribute vaccines, had also donated $100,000 to Gov. Ron DeSantis' 2022 reelection campaign.
...
The insinuation here, however, was pretty clear. Publix got this state contract because of the donation. Pay to play. Favoritism. All that good stuff.

The problem is that, in the wake of the "60 Minutes" report, multiple Democratic elected officials have come out to debunk the tie between the donation and Publix distributing the vaccine.

Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner, a Democrat, said that the news program had run "intentionally false" information because, he insisted, the producers knew that the county, not the governor, had been the one to request the Publix partnership.
'60 Minutes' just gave Ron DeSantis a massive gift - CNNPolitics

CBS should not have aired her unfounded statements. This makes CBS and 60 Minutes untrustworthy.

 

[Landon Caeli]

The media has already lost my trust. My hope is that others will wake up to the nonsense as well.