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As he proposed to extend the state鈥檚 ban on mandates for covid vaccines and face masks, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis lobbed a flurry of criticism at President Joe Biden and 鈥渢he medical establishment.鈥澛�

鈥淭hey were not following the science,鈥� DeSantis said at a Jan. 17聽聽in Panama City Beach. 鈥淎lmost every study now has said with these new boosters, you鈥檙e more likely to get infected with the bivalent booster.鈥�

Fewer than 11% of eligible Floridians have received an updated booster vaccine, according to the .听

The bivalent booster, which contains components of the original covid virus and the omicron variant, is designed聽聽broad protection against illness or hospitalization from those covid strains.听

Research into the efficacy of the bivalent booster in preventing infection continues.听

Broadly speaking, covid vaccines do not prevent infection; they prevent the virus from spreading within the body and causing severe illness, according to . Early that people who got the booster were 84% less likely to be hospitalized from covid.

The data collected on the booster鈥檚 ability to curb infection is early and limited. Some clinical trials聽聽that bivalent shots are no more equipped to prevent people from contracting covid than the original vaccines.听

Although some people have suggested the bivalent booster offers little protection against infection, DeSantis went further. He said people who received the bivalent booster shot were more susceptible to covid than those who hadn鈥檛.

The governor鈥檚 press office responded to PolitiFact鈥檚 inquiry about the claim, citing two articles and three studies, two of which are not yet peer-reviewed. The most recent came from the聽Cleveland Clinic and was discussed聽in聽an聽聽in The Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Nabin Shrestha, an infectious-disease physician and one of the study鈥檚 authors, told PolitiFact the data did not find a link between the bivalent shot and a higher risk of contracting covid. The early conclusion was the opposite of what DeSantis said: The dose is, in fact, effective in preventing infection.

DeSantis鈥� Conclusion Could Not Be Drawn From That Study

Cleveland Clinic researchers examined the bivalent booster鈥檚 effectiveness in preventing infection among 51,011 health care workers聽鈥� some of whom had not received the booster 鈥� from September to December 2022. Pfizer and Moderna offer the bivalent booster, which the FDA authorized in August.听

Over those four months, about 5% of the clinic鈥檚 employees contracted covid. The researchers then estimated that the bivalent booster was about 30% effective in reducing the likelihood of contracting the virus.听

The Cleveland Clinic researchers were not trying to determine the bivalent vaccine鈥檚 effectiveness in preventing severe illness or hospitalization.听

鈥淭he study wasn鈥檛 measuring the vaccine causing infection,鈥� said Jill Roberts, a public health professor at the University of South Florida. 鈥淭he study was measuring the efficacy of the bivalent vaccine in preventing infection.鈥�

What drove coverage in outlets like The Wall Street Journal was an 鈥渦nexpected鈥� association researchers found between the number of prior vaccine doses and an increased risk of contracting covid. People with three or more doses of the vaccine had a higher chance of getting infected.听

That finding quickly overshadowed the protection the bivalent shot provided. The Wall Street Journal opinion piece cited the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 study as evidence that vaccine boosters are making 鈥渢he population as a whole鈥� more vulnerable to covid.听

Andrea Pacetti, the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 public and media relations director, told PolitiFact that the study population, whose average age was 42, is not reflective of the general public.听

鈥淭he study was done in a younger, relatively healthy, health care employee population. It included no children, very few elderly individuals and likely few immunocompromised individuals,鈥� Pacetti said. 鈥淭herefore, we urge caution in generalizing the findings to the public, which can include different populations.鈥澛�

More than 50% of the health care workers participating in the clinic鈥檚 study had received three or more doses of a covid vaccine; only 12% were not vaccinated.听

Dr. Ren茅 Najera, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Public Health at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, said the Cleveland Clinic study鈥檚 outcome was unsurprising given the characteristics of the research subjects 鈥� mostly vaccinated health care workers.

If the majority of the study population received three or more doses of a covid vaccine, for instance, then it is reasonable to assume that the majority of covid cases would occur in that population.

鈥淭hose who were studied were health care workers: more likely to be exposed, more likely to be vaccinated as well,鈥� Najera told PolitiFact. 鈥淚f the study is found to be sound through peer review, its findings would only be applicable to health care workers in large settings such as the Cleveland Clinic, not the general public.鈥�

Pacetti further emphasized that the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, and 鈥渕ore research is needed to either confirm or refute this finding.鈥澛�

The Cleveland Clinic acknowledged that two other studies had found a similar association between the number of prior vaccine doses and an increased risk of contracting covid, though it had similar limitations.听

聽had not yet been peer-reviewed, and聽聽examined only health care employees. And even with that finding, the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 study did not suggest the bivalent booster increased the likelihood of infection.听

DeSantis鈥� 鈥渟tatement is incorrect,鈥� Najera said. 鈥淭hat conclusion cannot be drawn from that study, and the authors state that it is not designed to evaluate that association.鈥澛�

Our Ruling

DeSantis said, 鈥淎lmost every study now has said with these new boosters, you鈥檙e more likely to get infected with the bivalent booster.鈥�

An unpublished study from the Cleveland Clinic examined the bivalent covid booster鈥檚 effectiveness in preventing infection among a group of about 50,000 health care workers.听

However, one of the study鈥檚 authors told PolitiFact that the research did not find an association with the bivalent booster and a higher risk of covid. The study found that the bivalent booster is 30% effective in preventing infection from the virus.

The researchers did find that there could be an association between the number of prior vaccine doses and an increased risk of contracting covid. Still, that finding did not suggest the bivalent booster could cause infection or increase the likelihood of infection.听

We rate DeSantis鈥櫬燾laim False.