No, doctors in South Florida did not walk off the job or protest while patients needed care

It’s no secret that Florida is in the middle of its most serious outbreak of the pandemic. The state is averaging around 150,000 new COVID-19 cases per week as of mid-August, and nearly 16,900 people in the state are hospitalized with the disease.

In response to the dire situation, a group of doctors from multiple hospitals in South Florida held a news conference to urge people in the community to get vaccinated and wear masks.

"We are all here together with one simple message that can save your life: please go get vaccinated and wear a mask," Dr. Jennifer Buczyner, a neurologist who organized the event, said Aug. 23. "A large majority of hospitalized COVID patients are unvaccinated. Many of these patients have decided not to get vaccinated but when they are hospitalized they tell us they wish they had."

But misleading headlines and social media posts sought to undermine the group’s message by falsely claiming that the physicians had "walked off" the job in "protest" while patients needed their care and suffered. 

"75 doctors in #SouthFlorida walkout in protest as their hospital is flooded with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients," read one post shared widely on Instagram.

Conservative show host Dan Bongino said in a Facebook video that he was "disgusted" by the doctors and that he "strongly recommends" that they leave the profession.

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Jeffrey Barke

stated on August 23, 2024 in an Instagram post

Food and Drug Administration approval for updated COVID-19 vaccines requires a public health emergency declaration.

The posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed (read more about our partnership with Facebook), and both used a misleading clip from MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" to illustrate their point. 

The network covered the conference the morning it occurred, but inaccurately referred to it as a walk out, displaying an on-screen chyron that read: "SOUTH FLORIDA DOCTORS WALK OUT IN PROTEST." 

She said the misleading reports came "at the expense of a very caring medical community who attempted to come out with a very heartfelt message.Frankly, it was insulting to us all," she said.

Social media posts claim that about 75 doctors in South Florida walked out in protest as their hospital was overrun with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.

This is wrong. 

The event was an early-morning news conference to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations and mask-wearing. It wasn’t a protest or a walkout. The doctors who participated either came before the start of their shifts, or after. 

We rate this False.