HERALD TRIBUNE
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo took the extraordinary step Wednesday of “calling for a halt to the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines,” a move that contradicts federal health authorities and again makes Florida an outlier.
Ladapo said in a statement released by the Florida Department of Health that he raised questions about the safety of the vaccines with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and they did not provide an adequate response. As a result, he said, he is now recommending against their use.
The FDA’s response to Ladapo, dated last month, rebutted each of his concerns and warns that vaccine “misinformation and disinformation” will result in fewer people getting vaccinated, which contributes to the “continued death and serious illness toll of COVID-19.”
A favorite of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ladapo is a controversial figure who repeatedly has criticized COVID-19 vaccines and issued increasingly stringent recommendations urging various populations not to get them, despite assurances by federal authorities they are safe.
In 2022, Ladapo made Florida the first state in the nation to recommend against healthy children receiving the COVID-19 vaccines. Then last year he recommended against anyone under the age of 65 getting new COVID vaccine boosters.
Ladapo’s latest recommendation is his most drastic yet, targeting some of the most popular vaccines such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna. Ladapo’s letter to the FDA raises concerns about “the risks of contaminant DNA integration into human DNA” through the messenger RNA vaccine and “the integrity…
