During Sunday’s broadcast of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan attempted to challenge Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) on Florida’s vaccination policy, as it pertained to an apparent measles outbreak in his home state.
Donalds, the Republican nominee for Florida governor, said the measles outbreak was a product of illegal immigration that was left unchecked by the Biden administration.
Partial transcript as follows:
DONALDS: I think that’s much more of a constructive conversation about costs and health care and trying to stabilize prices than just simply vaccinations.
BRENNAN: Right. But that also doesn’t address coverage for them or how they pay for them. But I hear you. I’m sure a lot of people would like to know what they’re paying.
But in terms of keeping people healthy, nearly all of Florida is below the 95% immunization rate for herd immunity for measles. So, is your message to Florida parents, get your kids vaccinated against that one?
DONALDS: No. Actually, my message to Floridians and, quite frankly to Americans is, the reason why we have seen a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country is because of rampant illegal immigration into the United States from the previous administration.
Margaret, before Joe Biden went into office, when our borders were basically secure —
BRENNAN: What evidence do you have of that?
DONALDS: Margaret, we’ve seen the outbreaks in El Paso, Texas, in southwest Florida, where I live, and many other parts where you know that you have a situation, people have come into the country illegally, have not had that vaccination schedule. And not the ones today on young kids, that parents do have concerns about. I’m talking about previous ones, where people weren’t even getting the measles vaccine or mumps and rubella.
BRENNAN: So, you want them to be vaccinated?
DONALDS: So, the key thing is you, number one, you’ve got to control immigration into your country. You can’t have an entire segment of people, more than 10 million, come into your country without that vaccination schedule. That’s how you end up having some of these outbreaks.
BRENNAN: OK.
DONALDS: And so that’s number one. But number two, and I will tell, we can talk vaccinations, but the real issue in health care is the cost for Americans and the cost for Floridians.
BRENNAN: Yes.
DONALDS: And we have already seen that the regulatory framework of the Affordable Care Act is driving up costs on every American.
BRENNAN: OK.
DONALDS: And that’s what I want to stay focused on as the next governor of Florida.
BRENNAN: OK. So, you want vaccinated immigrants.
Let me ask you about some of those immigrants. There are —
DONALDS: Actually, I want — I just want legal immigrants.
BRENNAN: Uh-huh. OK.
DONALDS: To be clear, I just want legal immigration with assimilation.
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