Florida Surgeon General Calls For Halt On mRNA Covid Vaccines

Florida’s top health official called for a halt to using mRNA coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, contending that the shots could contaminate patients’ DNA.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo’s announcement, released as a state bulletin, comes after months of back-and-forth with federal regulators who have repeatedly argued with his claim around vaccines.

Ladapo issued the bulletin as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), his political patron, fights to stay alive in the Republican presidential primary, in which he trails former president Donald Trump by more than 40 percentage points in head-to-head polls. The Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest, are slated to be held Jan. 15.

“These vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings,” Ladapo wrote. “Providers concerned about patient health risks associated with COVID-19 should prioritize patient access to non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and treatment.”

Florida’s health department did not immediately respond to questions about whether Ladapo’s new stance would affect vaccine access for the state’s patients and health providers, or whether his decision to repeat debunked claims could create doubts about other routine vaccinations. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that Florida lags far behind most states when it comes to the percentage of its population that has received an updated booster dose. Meanwhile, covid hospitalizations have been on the rise nationally, with almost 30,000 Americans newly hospitalized the week of Dec. 23.

Scott Rivkees, a DeSantis appointee who preceded Ladapo as Florida surgeon general before stepping down in September 2021, called Wednesday’s announcement “surprising and disappointing” and at odds with settled science about the safety of coronavirus vaccines. But current DeSantis officials praised the announcement.

“Grateful to live in a state where Big Pharma does not dictate health policy recommendations,” Christina Pushaw, a DeSantis campaign official, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, where she thanked Ladapo “for standing up for scientific integrity.” The DeSantis campaign did not respond to questions about whether the governor coordinated with Ladapo on the announcement or whether he would adopt a similar position if elected president.

Ladapo’s move was lauded by a network of anti-vaccine allies, who have repeatedly claimed that the shots are ineffective.

Polling has shown that Republicans remain disproportionately skeptical of the coronavirus vaccines, a position sometimes amplified by GOP politicians: 55 percent of Republican respondents vowed that they would “definitely not get” the vaccine compared with 12 percent of Democrats, according to November polling released by health policy researchers at KFF.

Federal officials on Wednesday reiterated their confidence in the mRNA vaccines, which were developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and have been widely used since their global introduction in late 2020. More than 1.5 billion people around the world have received the vaccines, company spokespeople told The Post.

“It’s one of the most studied vaccines at this point,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said, saying she and her family are vaccinated.

The Food and Drug Administration, which has authorized or approved several iterations of the coronavirus vaccines, on Wednesday stressed the shots’ “safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality.”

“Perpetuating references to information about residual DNA in COVID-19 vaccines without placing it within the context of the manufacturing process and the known benefits of the vaccine is misleading,” FDA spokeswoman Cherie Duvall-Jones said in a statement.

Ladapo, a Harvard-trained physician and researcher, gained national attention writing columns in the Wall Street Journal that raised questions about public health interventions throughout the pandemic. The columns attracted the attention of DeSantis, who picked Ladapo in 2021 to oversee a roughly 15,000-person health department in the nation’s third-most populous state.

In that role, Ladapo has increasingly amped up his warnings about the safety of the vaccines, often joined by colleagues and media personalities. He appeared on the podcast of Del Bigtree, who led the anti-vaccine group Informed Consent Action Network before announcing this week that he joined Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign as the independent candidate’s communications director. Ladapo also has appeared in an online program hosted by Stew Peters, a far-right media personality who has called for former presidential medical adviser Anthony S. Fauci to be hanged.

Ladapo’s stances have drawn him into conflict with the FDA and federal officials who say his claims are baseless – and dangerous.

“We stand firmly behind our regulatory decision-making with the authorizations and approvals of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, wrote to Ladapo on Dec. 14. “The challenge we continue to face is the ongoing proliferation of misinformation and disinformation about these vaccines which results in vaccine hesitancy that lowers vaccine uptake.”

(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Dan Diamond, Lauren Weber, Josh Dawsey