Florida suffers from disease outbreak as science gives way to quackery |

Shortly before Joseph Ladapo was sworn in as Florida's Surgeon General in 2022, The New Yorker published a short column welcoming the vaccine-skeptical doctor to his new role and sharing his defense of vaccines. emphasized. Use of leeches In public health.

It was satire, of course, poking fun at the Harvard-educated doctor's unconventional medical views, including his firm belief that life-saving coronavirus vaccinations are the best. devil's workstates that if you inhale toxic fumes from a gas stove, opening the window is the preferred treatment.

However, measles outbreaks are now completely preventable. spread throughout FloridaMedical experts question whether the quackery is really official health policy in the nation's third-most populous state.

As a highly contagious disease rages through a Broward County elementary school, Ladapo, a politically appointed acolyte to Florida's far-right governor, Ron DeSantiswrote a letter telling parents that it's perfectly fine to continue sending their unvaccinated children to the United States.

“The Surgeon General is Ron DeSantis' dog and will say whatever DeSantis wants to say,” said Dr. Robert Speth, a professor of pharmacy at Nova Southeastern University in South Florida with more than 40 years of research experience.

“His comments are more political than medical and are a terrible disservice to Floridians. He is a man whose job it is to protect public health, and he is doing just the opposite.”

Ladapo's advice Leaving school attendance decisions up to parents and guardians goes directly against the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's official recommendation to quarantine for 21 days for people without a history of infection or vaccination.

It also aligns with Ladapo's previous heretical declarations about vaccines that medical experts say pose an unacceptable risk to the health of Floridians.They also include formula Guidance to avoid mRNA Covid-19 boosters Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha's view is based on an easily disproved conspiracy theory that the shot could alter a person's DNA and potentially cause cancer. There is.

Meanwhile, measles has been eradicated in the United States since 2000, but its resurgence and Ladapo's recent misfortune have sparked new derisive comments.Florida: Come for the sunshine, take the measles with you and leave! orlando sentinel“Measles? Florida's descent into the 1950s requires an on-brand.” tampa bay times.

In response to this backlash, the Florida Department of Health said,clarify informationThis week, the paper claimed in a statement that the stay-at-home advisory was actually given to parents at Manatee Bay Elementary School, and that the media was “reporting misinformation and politicizing this outbreak.” I tried to criticize him.

Ministry officials reiterated this claim in subsequent statements.

“The media continues to promote the theory that Dr. Ladapo defied science with his recent letter. In fact, he used available data and impunity to drive policy decisions affecting Manatee Bay Elementary School. “We have done so,” Deputy Press Secretary Grant Kemp said.

“97% of students at Manatee Bay Elementary School have received at least one dose of MMR vaccination. Outbreaks are occurring in multiple states, and national measles immunization coverage is less than 92%.”

Incidentally, reporting false information is something Ladapo himself knows all too well.It turns out that he has Personally manipulated data A study on a 2022 coronavirus vaccine falsely claimed young men were at higher risk of heart disease and death.

To Mr. Supes, and many other medical professionalsLadapo's series of dangerous positions denying even the most obvious benefits of vaccination and vaccination is symptomatic of a broader political attack by the right with potentially deadly consequences.

Speth believes its origins lie in long-discredited research by a disgraced former British doctor. andrew wakefield Incorrectly linking the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism; enthusiastically supported by anti-vaxxers and other extremists in the United States.

“Wakefield's study was a gross fraud, but today up to 25% of the population believes it, and opportunistic politicians are capitalizing on that sentiment to tell people what they want to hear about the dangers of vaccines. “We are trying to do that,” he said.

“Republicans are at war with medicine, and this is a terrible tragedy. But I feel like Cassandra talking about public health threats. More children with preventable infectious diseases with vaccines. You're going to see people die.”

Ladapo is praised the “superstar” Written by DeSantis Sidelined and then abandoned His predecessor, Scott Rivkeis, criticized the governor for contradicting his positions on social distancing and masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ladapo has become a vocal cheerleader for the governor's anti-mask, vaccine, and lockdown orders. He was also a prominent member of the Frontline Doctors of America, a fringe group of radical doctors who promoted ineffective drugs such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for the virus.

Simone Gold, founder of the group, said: 60 days imprisonment 2022, for participating in the January 6 Capitol riot.

Additionally, Ladapo was a signer of the Great Barrington Declaration. The open letter is said to have been signed by 15,000 scientists and medical professionals calling for a herd immunity approach to the coronavirus, including a number of impersonators, including Dr. Johnny Bananas and Dr. Parson. was included. Feel free to use a fake name and doctor's IP.

Florida Democrats believe that Mr. Ladapo's response to the measles outbreak makes him unfit for a job that pays him more than $600,000 a year and is paid roughly equally by the state and the University of Florida, where he has been granted tenure. He argues that this is one reason. Professorship as a motive for coming.

“What's so sad is that it's completely preventable,” said state Sen. Tina Polksi, one of Ladapo's most vocal critics.

“Moments of crisis require the best level-headed people to lead the health sector, but now we are in the next crisis, post-coronavirus, with someone in charge unwilling to follow generally accepted scientific guidelines. I am serving.

“It is completely illogical to act as if we don't need a vaccine to eradicate measles, because that's why our country has run out of vaccines. It would have devastating consequences, and many It will scare the kids, it will cause them to drop out of school, and that in itself will have negative consequences.”