Florida surgeon general says he didn’t study whether ending vaccine mandate would increase diseases

Joseph Ladapo has compared vaccinations to government-imposed ‘slavery’

Florida’s Surgeon General says his team did not study what impact ending vaccine mandates in the state would have on the spread of diseases.

Joseph Ladapo, an appointee of Governor Ron DeSantis, announced this week that Florida would look to end all vaccine mandates for schoolchildren and others.

Ladapo has said that required vaccinations are equivalent to government-imposed “slavery”, and that ending them is a question of parental rights.

He admitted to news anchor Jake Tapper on CNN’s Sunday show, “State of the Union”, that studying the impact of such a move was not necessary.

“Absolutely not,” Ladapo told Tapper. “It’s an issue of right and wrong.”

Jake Tapper interviews Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. Florida’s Surgeon General says his team did not study what impact ending vaccine mandates in the state would have on the spread of diseases. (CNN)

Florida has not yet rolled back any mandates and such a move will likely face legal challenges.

Under Florida state law, children planning to attend public school are required to receive immunizations for polio, diphtheria (a bacterial infection), rubeola (measles), rubella (a viral infection also called German measles), pertussis (whooping cough), mumps, tetanus and other "communicable diseases" as determined by the department of health.

Private schools that do not take state funding control their own vaccine requirements.

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo with Gov. Ron DeSantis (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Ladapo, who has a history of promoting health-related misinformation, said on Wednesday that the Florida Department of Health and the governor’s office would work together to end every single vaccine mandate.

“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said.

Ladapo has also peddled health-related conspiracy theories by questioning vaccines as well as fluoride in water.

“Who am I as a government or anyone else, or as a man standing here now, to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should be putting in their body? I don’t have that right,” Ladapo said Wednesday, to a round of applause from the audience.

All 50 states have had a vaccine mandate for public schools since 1980, according to the CDC, which estimates that childhood vaccines save more than four million lives every year worldwide.

A measles outbreak that started in Texas this year resulted in 1,356 confirmed measles cases, 171 hospitalizations and three deaths, according to the CDC.

Officials say that 92 percent of those infected were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status.