In the “free state of Florida,” your freedom goes as far as the political whims of our governor.

You’re entitled to free speech, unless you’re a company like Disney who disagrees with Gov. Ron DeSantis. Parents should be free to not vaccinate their children and still send them to public school, regardless of the risk to other students. And doctors are free to deny treating patients based on their religious, moral or ethical beliefs — unless those beliefs clash with the governor’s.

As the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau reported this week, DeSantis wants to force doctors to treat unvaccinated patients, saying that denying them care is “wrong, and it’s coercive.”

OK, sure. Except, two years ago, he proudly signed a “medical conscience” bill that gave doctors the right to refuse to provide care that goes against their beliefs. That was then, when DeSantis said doctors should “follow the data, not dictates.” This is now, when DeSantis seems to believe that turning Florida into an anti-vax hub will help him politically.

In other words, under Florida law, a medical professional has the freedom to refuse to prescribe a contraceptive based on his or her religious beliefs or to object to treating a gay or transgender person. But if the Legislature gives DeSantis what he wants, doctors won’t have the freedom to turn away unvaccinated patients, including children whose parents refuse to vaccinate them for dangerous infections like measles.

When it comes to freedom in the state of Florida, it turns out, there’s no “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” — only what’s good for the governor’s political agenda. Some may call that a double standard. We call it hypocrisy — and dangerous.

Forcing doctors to treat unvaccinated patients against the doctors’ will isn’t the only issue. One can make the reasonable argument that every person deserves medical care, including those who object to immunization — though if you’re going to make that argument, that right should apply to everyone, not just the people the governor chooses to protect.

The reality is that doctors who turn away unvaccinated patients would be most likely to do so out of concern for exposing other patients to preventable diseases, especially children who are too young to have received some of the recommended shots or patients who are immunocompromised.

The anti-vaccine moves by DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who has said his goal is to make mRNA COVID-19 vaccines no longer available, aren’t just bad policy. Even if the Legislature never passes a law forcing medical providers to treat the unvaccinated, the damage is done.

Every time the governor and Florida’s surgeon general use their bully pulpit to question the safety and effectiveness of immunizations, they create more fear and doubt in the minds of many parents, who are hearing opposing messages from doctors and the politicians they trust and admire. This is irresponsible on the part of DeSantis and others — President Donald Trump included — who continue to lend credence to fringe theories and ignore how vaccinations have saved lives. If children aren’t dying or becoming paralyzed from polio today, it’s because of the shots.

The responsible thing to do would be for DeSantis to use his position as governor to promote vaccinations among school-age children to avoid outbreaks of viruses like measles, as happened this year in Texas. The vaccination rate among Florida’s kindergartners dropped from 94% in 2019 to 88% last school year, the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau reported.

Instead, Florida’s governor and surgeon general choose to vilify doctors and public-health experts, putting political expediency above the common good. They cloak that irresponsible stance in the freedom that Americans hold so dear. They show little regard for the potential consequences of their actions. Let’s just call that what it is: reckless.

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