As many of you know, Joseph Ladapo, the Surgeon General of Florida, has kicked off a very audacious campaign. His endgame is to end all vaccine mandates statewide. His investment in this mission becomes even clearer when you consider his 17-year history of opposing COVID-19 vaccines, masks and quarantines. Since taking office in 2021, Ladapo has garnered national attention. His extraordinary views often run directly counter to the guidelines and recommendations put forth by our nation’s top federal health experts.
Shining a spotlight on Ladapo’s radical approach to health care has lead public health experts and parents to raise concerns about his priorities and qualifications. For a long time, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has publicly advocated against vaccinating healthy children under the age of 16 with COVID-19 vaccines. In a recent statement, he emphasized, “The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida.” This announcement means even more entrenchment of his anti-mandate mandate goes further.
Criticism of Federal Guidelines
From the start of his tenure, Ladapo has made a name for himself as a rightwing warrior against federal COVID-19 guidelines. In 2020, he penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled “Lockdowns Won’t Stop the Spread,” which outlined his skepticism towards lockdown measures. His critiques don’t stop with COVID-19 vaccines — he has taken Florida on a path to ignore federal guidelines on gender-affirming care. The result, in 2022, was a new law from his agency. He recommended that medical practitioners not offer treatments such as hormones and puberty blockers to minors suffering from gender dysphoria.
Yet Ladapo’s along-the-boroughs’ promotion of these unorthodox health policies has caused just as much panic and concern among pediatricians and public health advocates. The basic immunization rate for kindergartners in Florida has fallen to an all-time low of just 90 percent. This is the lowest it has been in a decade during his watch. This unexplained decline raises questions about the long-term public health implications of his directives.
“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” – Joseph Ladapo
Ladapo first made national news last summer when he appeared in an anti-vaccine video created by America’s Frontline Doctors. This group is perhaps best known for spreading anti-vaccine conspiracy theories about COVID-19. His affiliation with this group underscores the extreme measures that many of his public health approaches have been met with.
Concerns Over Vaccine Safety
In 2023, Ladapo toughened his hard line on COVID-19 vaccines. Contagion writer Stephen M. Ostroff, Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine at the FDA, asked that all vaccinations be suspended in the U.S. He sounded the warning bell about the potential presence of “nucleic acid contaminants” in the vaccines. He cautioned that these contaminants could cause normal cells to become cancerous or induce chromosomal instability.
These claims have been roundly dismissed by large swaths of the medical community. Leading scientists and public health experts have called out a glaring lack of serious evidence underlying his claims regarding vaccine safety. This dramatic difference between what Ladapo’s saying and the actual scientific consensus is alarming enough for public health messaging in Florida.
“People who don’t know you are telling you what to put in your temple, the temple of your body.” – Joseph Ladapo
His priorities against vaccine mandates and childhood vaccination have made Ladapo an archetypal culture war villain in today’s American public health. His policies reflect a growing trend among some political leaders who challenge federal health recommendations and prioritize personal choice over communal health measures.
Impact on Public Health
Unfortunately, the effects of Ladapo’s policies go well beyond matters of personal choice. It puts the public’s health at risk across the state of Florida. Yet his time in office has been marked by a dramatic increase in routine childhood vaccinations. These vaccination declines have likely put children at greater risk for vaccine-preventable diseases than ever before. With today’s immunization rate, millions more children will be at greater risk as herd immunity diminishes.
These are not just unfortunate anecdotes. Declining vaccination rates have serious, often specifically fatal, consequences. As a consequence, we could start seeing outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Pediatricians throughout the state are worried on a daily basis about what the long-term effects of low immunization rates will be on public health.
Florida, under Ladapo’s leadership, goes as far as discouraging vaccinations. This position is in stark opposition to most other states that follow CDC guidance. All states are struggling with how to best protect their constituents while respecting personal freedom and choice. Ladapo’s position is the leading edge of a dramatic turn away from all conventional public health approaches.
