On Sunday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared that he has plans to sign legislation that would give unvaccinated police officers a $5,000 bonus to relocate to his state.
The legislation comes after reports that police officers in other states are going to lose their jobs for not complying with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The governor talked about the program on Fox News and why he thinks first responders are refusing mandates.
"On a scientific basis, most of those first responders have had COVID and have recovered. So they have strong protection, and so I think that influences their decision," he said.
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DeSantis called those first responders leaving their jobs in New York, Minneapolis, and Seattle to move to his state, where they will be accommodated.
"In Florida, not only are we going to want to protect the law enforcement and all the jobs, we're actually actively working to recruit out-of-state law enforcement because we do have needs in our police and our sheriff's departments," he added.
Major cities have slowly started putting vaccine mandates in place for city employees. Chicago, for example, requires the unvaccinated to test for the virus twice a week until the mandate's Dec. 31 deadline.
While some will be let go, DeSantis is taking the opportunity to recruit.
"If you're not being treated well, we'll treat you better here, you can fill important needs for us, and we'll compensate you as a result," he said.
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Similar promises have also been made by the Indiana State Police, who welcomed any Chicago officers, The Hill reported. The tweet has since been deleted.
On the other side, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all city workers who have not at least received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 1 would lose their paychecks.
New York City does not have a testing opt-out like other cities do, News Week reported.
