TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo held a press conference Thursday to stand up for the “traditional practice of medicine.”

The governor touted his fight against a range of COVID-19 mitigation tactics used widely across the nation — namely lock-downs, mask mandates, and vaccine requirements.

“People have lost their jobs over these policies,” DeSantis said.“People’s kids have lost access to education over these policies.”

He added there was more that needed to be done to protect Floridians against “threats to freedom.”

To do so, DeSantis said the Florida legislature is working to create the Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act, which would prohibit medical boards or the Department of Health from “reprimanding, sanctioning, or revoking or threatening to revoke license, certificate, or registration of health care practitioner for specified use of his or her right of free speech without specified proof.

“We’re here today to say ‘let’s get this thing across the finish line,'” DeSantis said. “We want to make sure that people can exercise sound judgment, we want to make sure doctors can practice medicine and not just be genuflecting to whatever may come out from these agencies or professional bodies.”