Ron DeSantis vows grand jury investigation of 'any and all wrongdoing with respect to COVID-19 vaccines'


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced plans to impanel a statewide grand jury tasked with investigating "any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to COVID-19 vaccines" during a round table event with the state's Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo on Tuesday.
Comparing the action to his state's settlement with drug manufacturers behind the opioid crisis, DeSantis' announcement comes just days after he'd promised to "hold these manufacturers accountable for this mRNA [vaccine]."
"They said there was no side effects," DeSantis explained at a private event over the weekend. "We know that there have been, and there have been a lot." While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that inflammation of the heart tissue occurred "rarely" following mRNA COVID vaccinations, DeSantis claimed during the same event that "We did a study in Florida, and you saw an 86 percent increase in cardiac-related activity from people 18 to 39 from mRNA shots."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
During his event on Tuesday, DeSantis insinuated that the grand jury push was, in part, an effort to make public various reports regarding vaccine efficacy and side effects which manufacturers like Moderna and Pfizer had previously kept private. "We'll be able to get the data whether they want to give it or not," DeSantis vowed.
As The Bulwark's Amanda Carpenter notes, these latest anti-vaccine comments from DeSantis may be part of a broader ramp-up to a potential 2024 presidential run, positioning the governor to the right of former President Donald Trump on COVID-related issues in a play for the GOP base.
Earlier this year, DeSantis made a similar request to impanel a grand jury to focus on another of his tentpole political issues: undocumented immigration and "the effects of those international networks on Florida and how they have violated Florida law." According to Miami Herald reporter Ana Ceballos, the use of statewide grand juries was previously a rarity in Florida politics, occurring just 20 times over the past forty years.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from