It used to be fairly easy to dismiss Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, as a clownish anti-vaccine quack posing a danger mostly to residents of his home state.

That has become harder to do as time goes on, as Ladapo has moved from promoting useless treatments for COVID-19, such as the drugs hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, to waging an ever-expanding fact-free campaign against the leading COVID vaccines.

This month, Ladapo established a new low for himself. In a public advisory issued Wednesday by the Florida Department of Health, he declared the vaccines “not appropriate for use in human beings” and counseled doctors to steer patients to other treatments. He explicitly called for a “halt in the use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.”

“Scaring people unnecessarily like this has been hard to watch. … It is hard to believe that Dr. Ladapo actually issued that statement.” Vaccine authority Paul Offit.

  • Lath
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    fedilink
    310 months ago

    You sure? What if he’s a true believer? A political liar is better than the latter because he swings according to the voters. A true believer will go to the ends of the world for his faith.

    • DigitalTraveler42
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      English
      510 months ago

      It’s possible but he looks like a grifter trying to get in on the action to me, and that’s what like half the right wing is these days.