The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. October 14, 2021 Florida Health Department Fines County That Defied Ban on Vaccine Mandates -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The United States reported nearly 1,900 new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. More than 62,000 people remain hospitalized with the disease. In Florida, the Department of Health has levied a $3.5 million fine on Leon County after officials there required employees to show proof of vaccination. Several other county governments, school districts and businesses are under scrutiny for defying a ban on vaccine mandates imposed by Republican Governor Ron De Santis. This comes as a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds the U.S. could have prevented 90,000 deaths over the last four months if more adults had been vaccinated. .