Brevard GOP moves to ban COVID-19 vaccine, calling it a 'biological weapon'

The Brevard Republican Executive Committee has joined a growing list of Florida GOP chapters calling on Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban the COVID-19 vaccine, which it called a "biological weapon" in a resolution this week.

The nonbinding resolution was passed by a supermajority vote of committee membership Thursday. It now goes to DeSantis, Brevard County's legislative delegation and state party leaders, joining similar motions of support from committees in more than half a dozen other counties.

Brevard executive committee Chairman Rick Lacey did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

A draft version of the resolution reviewed by reporters closely mirrors one passed by the Lee County Republican Party in February, drawing national headlines.

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"Strong and credible evidence has recently been revealed that Covid-19 and Covid-19 injections are biological and technological weapons," the Brevard draft resolution says, citing claims that have been disproven and disputed by respected medical groups.

"An enormous number of humans have died or been permanently disabled" by the vaccine, it says. "Government agencies, media and tech companies, and other corporations, have committed enormous fraud by claiming Covid-19 injections are safe and effective."

It calls on DeSantis to ban sale and distribution of the vaccine "and all related vaccines," and for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to seize all remaining doses in the state for safety testing, "on behalf of the preservation of the human race," it says.

It also calls for mandatory disclosures on any product in the state "using mRNA or gene altering or therapeutic technology."

Hillsborough County Republicans approved a similar resolution last month. Its original author, Lee County psychotherapist Joseph Sansone, told the Tampa Bay Times in June that GOP chapters have passed the motion in at least five other counties, including Collier, Lake, St. Johns, Santa Rosa and Seminole, the newspaper reported.

The four-page resolution cites a mix of news and government sources, legitimate scientific papers — including a Swedish study, purported to show that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine alters human DNA, that its authors have said has been misinterpreted by vaccine critics — and fringe websites.

Many of its claims have been disputed by major medical associations and debunked by factcheckers from the Associated Press and other news agencies. One cited link appears to promote a version of the conspiracy theory that the Pfizer vaccine contains microchips or other electronic components.

The resolution includes references to data from a 2021 Pfizer study showing more than 1,200 deaths and 42,000 "adverse cases" associated with the vaccine worldwide between December 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021, but fails to include other important context.

By March 1, 2021, more than 72 million doses of the vaccine had been administered and more than 48 million people vaccinated in the United States alone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC has acknowledged some complications have occurred with different versions of the shot, but says "severe reactions" are rare and the benefits of vaccination "continue to outweigh any potential risks," according to its website.

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The resolution was met with opposition from some local Republicans. Susan Hammerling-Hodgers, a former BREC district chairperson and former president of the Brevard Trump Club, said she didn't attend the meeting in protest of what she called the "circus" surrounding the measure.

"As a lifelong Republican, I believe in less government overreach," Hodgers, who works in the medical field as a physician assistant, said in a statement. "When members of the Republican Party are making a vote to remove another American's choice to take a vaccine if they want to take a vaccine, then we have crossed the line."

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @EricRogersFT.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard Republicans move to ban COVID-19 vaccine as 'biological weapon'