Politics
Joe Ladapo’s vaccine mandates opposition goes against medical mainstream
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, whose credentials include two Harvard University degrees, says that requiring vaccinations for diseases like measles, polio and chickenpox amounts to government-imposed “slavery.” It’s far from the first time Florida’s surgeon general has cut against the medical establishment grain.
Ladapo, an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, made worldwide headlines this week by announcing Florida would seek to eliminate all mandated vaccinations for schoolchildren and others. He cast the immunization requirements, which date back decades and are considered a major global medical achievement that has saved millions of lives, as improper government intrusion in personal health decisions.
“Every last one is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said at a news conference with DeSantis this week. “Who am I, or anyone else, to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right.”
So far, a concrete action plan for eliminating immunization mandates in Florida has not emerged, despite multiple requests by The Associated Press. Ladapo acknowledged some proposed changes would require the state Legislature to act. Educators and many health professionals are aghast.
“Removing policies that keep our children healthy creates unnecessary confusion and fear,” said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Schools are tight-knit networks of children, educators, and families, making it easy for contagious diseases to spread.”
Like the Governor, Ladapo raised questions about COVID-19 policies that forced people to wear masks and move education online, keep their distance from others and show proof of COVID vaccinations to attend public events, go to a restaurant or take a cruise. Ladapo also misrepresented studies to raise doubts about the mRNA vaccine, the studies’ authors said.
In a 2024 guidance statement, Ladapo’s Department of Health warned against using the COVID vaccine at all, contending that “the federal government has failed to provide sufficient data to support the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 boosters, or acknowledge previously demonstrated safety concerns associated with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.” Those purported risks include respiratory tract infections, greater chance of autoimmune disease and cardiovascular problems.
Almost every major medical or public health organization disputed those assertions, including the Food and Drug Administration: “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,” said the FDA statement, adding that the agency “respectfully disagrees with the Florida Surgeon General’s opinion.”
In his public comments, Ladapo makes clear he does not follow the guidance of government health experts who, in his view, don’t look at the full picture of how to tackle disease and improve public health. His agency did not respond to an Associated Press request for an interview.
“It’s just this sea of insanity,” he said this week. “People are going to have to choose a side. People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions.”
Ladapo’s focus on what he and DeSantis call “medical freedom” also fuels his skepticism about other long-established health policies, such as the FDA’s warning against consuming unpasteurized milk that can contain salmonella and other deadly bacteria, or the addition of fluoride in drinking water to promote healthy teeth.
“At what point are you free to make your own decisions?” DeSantis said this week. “We’ve done a lot over the years to really be on the right side of fighting against the hysteria.”
Ladapo has many critics in the public health realm and, increasingly, among politicians seeking to tie his unorthodox policies to DeSantis and other Republicans. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat from South Florida, wants Ladapo ousted.
“Are we losing our minds? This is getting ridiculous and pathetic. Are we trying to kill millions of innocent children? Childhood vaccines save lives,” Wilson posted on social media this week. “Governor DeSantis must either remove Joseph Ladapo as Surgeon General or have him resign.”
There’s no indication that will happen. Ladapo appears to have full support from DeSantis and many conservatives cheer his willingness to buck the medical establishment, including what some see as the untoward influence of pharmaceutical companies.
“There are many brave people out there — moms & dads, doctors, scientists, and others — who have shown admirable courage in the fight for medical freedom,” Ladapo posted recently on the X social media platform. “Let’s continue. Much more work to be done.”
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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
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A House panel is on board with legislation that aims to increase regulations of electronic bikes and scooters in Florida.
Rep. Yvette Benarroch, a Naples Republican and co-sponsor of the House bill (HB 243), presented it before the House Government Operations Subcommittee. She offered a committee substitute bill, which the panel unanimously approved.
It’s identical to a measure that was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.
E-bikes especially have gained unflattering attention in recent years as they have been involved in more and more accidents. Benarroch during her presentation provided a list of about a half-dozen fatalities involving e-bikes on Florida roads recently.
“Unfortunately, this bill was inspired by tragedy,” Benarroch said during her presentation. “Young people have been seriously injured.”
She added that the number of e-bike accidents is not going down and there needs to be more data collected to understand how profound the issue is. She said she’s been working on the bill for about the past half-year.
“There are many others whose stories do not make the headlines,” Benarroch said. “The call to act is immediate.”
Benarroch’s bill is identical to Sen. Keith Truenow’s measure (SB 382). The Tavares Republican amended his original bill to include provisions establishing an “electric bicycle task force,” which are also included in the House proposal.
That task force would collect data on e-bike and scooter accidents, provide recommendations on enforcement, and submit a report to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
The bill would also limit e-bikes to operating at 10 mph on sidewalks if a pedestrian is within 50 feet.
Several law enforcement organizations, hospitals and School Boards supported Benarroch’s bill Wednesday.
Rep. Linda Chaney, a St. Petersburg Republican and Chair of the House subcommittee, said she was thankful for Benarroch’s work on the measure because local municipalities have approached the e-bike issue with inconsistent measures.
“There are a lot of different areas in our state with different laws, depending on how fast the bike goes, how you peddle it if you have a motor (and) there’s a lot of confusion out there. … This is going to have far-reaching impact,” Chaney said.
Two actions in North Florida in 2024 demonstrate the wide range of approaches to dealing with e-bikes.
Two 15-year-old boys were seriously injured in St. Johns County alone last year. The St. Johns County Commission passed a resolution in August to join forces with the Sheriff’s Office and the St. Johns County School District to promote more awareness and safety for the operators of e-bikes, as well as e-scooters and other electronic motorized devices.
The County Commission’s measure promised joint education with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Johns County School District.
St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick said the resolution’s timing was right.
The Palm Coast City Council in 2025 also passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for e-bike owners to modify their vehicles so they can exceed state-defined speed limits on streets, sidewalks or paths.
An annual day to remember fallen conservative icon Charlie Kirk is closer to becoming law after meetings of the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee and the House Governmental Operations Subcommittee.
The panels voted on party lines to devote Oct. 14 to remember the activist and commentator who spoke for a generation on the Right before he was gunned down while addressing a Utah university crowd.
Under bills from Sen. Jonathan Martin and Rep. Yvette Benarroch (SB 194, HB 125), the Governor would be compelled to issue a proclamation every Oct. 14 — Kirk’s birthday — for the “Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance.”
“This bill would have this day be a day of remembrance and recognition of Charlie Kirk’s influence on civic engagement, youth leadership, and constitutional education. It does not create a state holiday or mandate closures,” Martin said Wednesday.
Martin extolled Kirk’s “alternative viewpoint” and willingness to debate, saying “what he was doing when he was assassinated goes to the very core of who we are as Americans.”
“The First Amendment does not exist to protect comfortable speech,” Benarroch said. “It exists to protect speech we disagree with. It exists to protect debate, House Bill 125 is not about asking anyone to agree with Charlie Kirk. It is not about endorsing every statement he ever made. It is not about elevating a personality. This bill is about what happens when violence replaces debate.”
Ahead of the Senate vote and after numerous members of the public cited various racially provocative things Kirk said into live microphones, an amendment from Sen. Shevrin Jones creating the gubernatorial option for a George Floyd day of remembrance was rejected, saying his killing, like Kirk’s, changed “public consciousness.”
Jones noted that when he was in the House, legislation like the main bill wouldn’t have advanced, which he framed as a measure of how far to the right discourse in the Capitol has moved in just the last few years.
“We’re passing days of remembrance of an individual who … probably wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire,” Jones said, before his amendment was turfed.
These bills are part of several efforts to remember the founder of Turning Point USA.
A proposed road renaming in Miami-Dade, an honorary naming of the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative championship trophy, and Attorney General James Uthmeier’s Combat Violent Extremism Portal all exemplify state leaders’ effort to pay tribute to a leading advocate for the kind of unapologetic conservatism Florida Republicans embrace.
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