Florida surgeon general on ending vaccine mandates: Not ‘actually a scientific debate’
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said Friday that Florida’s move to end all school vaccine mandates is not “actually a scientific debate,” but rather about putting parents’ and children’s interests over the government.
“This isn’t actually a scientific debate. This is about whether the parent’s interest should prevail over the sovereignty and the autonomy of their bodies and their children’s bodies, or whether the government should prevail. It’s that simple,” Ladapo said during his appearance on NewsNation’s show “Cuomo.”
Florida officials announced on Wednesday plans to make Florida the first state in the country to do away with school vaccine mandates, with Ladapo comparing them to slavery.
“Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo, a longtime vaccine skeptic, said.
He added that his department will yank the mandates under his purview and that the state legislature will have to do the rest.
“But this one is actually more political, because it is a philosophical discussion. And the philosophical debate is about whether parents’ rights should prevail when it comes to the health of their children, or whether the government’s rights or the government’s interests, however it perceives those interests are, should prevail,” Ladapo told host Chris Cuomo. “And I personally have zero doubt that the correct position, particularly for society that values freedom and wants to preserve freedom, is that parents must prevail.”
President Trump weighed in on the decision on Friday, expressing reservations about the move and adding that some vaccines are “amazing.”
“You have some vaccines that are so incredible. I think you have to be very careful when you say some people don’t have to be vaccinated,” the president told reporters. “It’s a very tough position. Just initially, I heard about it yesterday, and it’s a tough stance.”
“Look, you have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all, and I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people,” he added.
The move has garnered some support, including from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz.
Ladapo largely brushed off Trump’s warning and other criticism for the mandate removal, saying he is just doing what he believes is right.
“That’s the first time I’d heard that the President said that. But, you know, I’m not trying to make any recommendations for President Trump,” the Florida surgeon general said Friday. “I’m simply, as I’ve been doing since my tenure here and years before then, just saying what I believe is right. So that’s, you know, that’s what I that’s, that’s what I have to say.”
In the Sunshine State, school districts, similarly to others around the country, require vaccinations for measles, rubella, pertussis, polio, diphtheria and other diseases.