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A Florida health official is on administrative leave after encouraging staffers to get COVID-19 shots while blasting their “pathetic” vaccination rate, officials said.
Dr. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, was put on paid leave after sending a Jan. 4 email to staffers denouncing their lackluster efforts to get protected against the virus, agency officials confirmed to The Post Wednesday.
“I am sorry, but at this point in the absence of reasonable and real reasons, it is irresponsible [not] to be vaccinated,” Pino wrote in the message. “We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000 and we are not even at 50%, pathetic.”
Of 568 active Orange County department staffers, just 77 had been fully vaccinated, including booster shots, Pino wrote. That equates to a “super low” vaccination rate of 13.55%. Another 219 others had two doses of the treatment, while 34 employees had only received one dose, Pino said.
With those vaccination rates, Pino said staffers “should expect many of us to get sick” and potentially infect their families or clients.
“I have a hard time understanding how we can be in public health and not practice it!” Pino wrote. “The reasons can be many, but so many of us?”
The Florida Department of Health confirmed Pino had been placed on leave. The news was first reported Tuesday by WFTV.
“As the decision to get vaccinated is a personal medical choice that should be made free from coercion and mandates from employers, the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave,” the agency said in a statement to The Post.
The Florida Department of Health is also looking into whether “any laws were broken” with the unsanctioned message.
“The department is committed to upholding all laws, including the ban on vaccine mandates for government employees and will take appropriate action once additional information is known,” the agency’s statement continued.
Another employee complained about receiving the email, sparking an investigation into Pino, sources told the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday.
Pino, 58, declined to comment on the matter, the newspaper reported. He had been a familiar face to the public in Central Florida, appearing at more than 150 press briefings since the pandemic began in March 2020, including some with Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.
Pino last appeared at a press briefing on Dec. 28 when he urged residents to get vaccinated against the virus, the Sentinel reported.
Demings, meanwhile, tested positive for COVID-19 late Tuesday, county officials announced Wednesday. The fully vaccinated mayor is experiencing mild symptoms, but plans to work remotely for the rest of the week, staffers said.
More than 13.7 million Florida residents are fully vaccinated — or nearly 66 percent of the state’s population, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Nationwide, the figure as of Wednesday stands at 63.77 percent, data shows.
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