'His Policies Don't Care About Prevention': Sen. Tina Polsky On Why She's Against Confirmation Of Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo

MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- In the coming days, the Florida Senate is expected to confirm Governor Ron DeSantis's choice for Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo.

State Senator Tina Polsky has been among Ladapo's sharpest critics, and on Facing South Florida Sunday she explained why to CBS4's Jim DeFede.

Here's a bit of their conversation.

Tina Polsky: So, my big issue with him, and obviously I've been privy to his policies and his news conferences and everything in between all this time, is they don't care about prevention. And I'm not just talking about prevention of getting COVID, prevention of sickness, and all they talk about is treatment. And that's only half the battle. So why on earth he won't talk about prevention, except literally healthy diet is the only thing that I heard him mention. It makes no sense to me, and that's why I don't think he's qualified to lead us through this pandemic. And, God forbid, you know, more variants down the road or some other disease that that befalls us.

Jim DeFede: Well, if you don't think he's qualified, why do you think the governor selected him?

Tina Polsky: It's politics. Come on, Jim, you know that he plays into this anti-vaccine anti-mask anti-science anti-Fauci playbook that he has. And he thinks it's, you know, it's what his base is looking for. I don't know why. I mean, I think that almost all of my colleagues are vaccinated. And yet, you know, they voted for him. So, it's just the governor playing games and trying to be different from the federal government in his run for presidency.

Jim DeFede: Well, even the governor right now won't say if he received the booster. I think he acknowledged at some point early on that he was vaccinated but has never  talked about, won't say whether or not he received a booster shot.

Tina Polsky: And I always imagine Jim, if he went around the state to all 67 counties in a mobile vaccine unit, a big bus and stopped it at all the diners that he loves to go and eat at and said, 'Hey, go in and get your vaccine,' don't you think so many more people will be vaccinated? Don't you think if he showed his own vaccination on television that more people would be interested in getting a vaccine? But instead, he plays coy. And that's exactly what he's doing with the answer on the booster shot. Why he wouldn't want his citizens to be safe is beyond me.

Jim DeFede: Well, your colleagues, your Republican colleagues, do you expect any of them to not vote for him?

Tina Polsky: I do not.

Jim DeFede: What does that say to you? What does that tell you?

Tina Polsky: It breaks my heart a little bit, to be honest, because I'm friends with a lot of them. But it's the power of leadership and the power of the governor, and they don't want to cross the line.

Click here to see the entire interview with Sen. Tina Polsky from Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede which airs every Sunday morning at 11:30am.