Florida surgeon general says controversial measles policy informed by lessons from COVID-19 – Washington Examiner

EXCLUSIVE Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is standing firm behind his controversial decision not to force an isolation period for children not vaccinated against measles after an outbreak in his state in February, saying that erring on the side of individual choice should be a key lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic.

What honestly breaks my heart but I hope that people recognize is that, unfortunately, the same people who were ready to drive the car into the ground and take everyone down with them during COVID have learned no lessons, Ladapo said in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner.

Ladapo has drawn extensive public criticism after the outbreak of a cluster of six measles cases at Manatee Bay Elementary School in the Fort Lauderdale area.

On Feb. 20, Ladapo issued a statement to parents in the district, deferring to parents and guardians to make the decision about whether or not to send unvaccinated children to school.

Ladapos directive contradicts the general guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for measles outbreaks, which recommends that unvaccinated people remain isolated for up to 21 days following potential contact with a measles patient due to the likelihood of transmission and the possibility of the unvaccinated patient developing symptoms. In this case, Ladapo said the generic guidance seemed completely excessive.

Ladapo said that, given that 97% of the students at the school had received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine, the decision to defer to parents was much more humane, much more practical, and much more sustainable.

In my judgment, thats a completely reasonable decision, considering the circumstances and considering what we know about the immunity rate in the community, the effectiveness of the vaccine, and the cost associated with isolation and keeping kids out of school for so long, Ladapo said.

Although the federal recommendation for isolation is 21 days, Ladapo noted that other countries have looser restrictions depending upon local conditions, including the inability of parents to provide child care for children other than public schools.

The World Health Organizations national-level guidance, which Ladapo cited in his interview with the Washington Examiner, says that pragmatic decisions often guide national policies, following a risk-benefit assessment.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who represents the Fort Lauderdale region in Congress, called for the removal of Ladapo from his post over his handling of the incident, saying that his policies are a stark contrast to bipartisan public health success.

Ladapo instead politicizes public health and peddles risky freedom of choice rhetoric that fuels vaccine hesitancy and downplays the public and personal health necessity for vaccination, Wasserman Schultz said in a press conference last week.

George Washington University public health professor and former Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen called Ladapos policies outrageous and a preventable tragedy in a Washington Post op-ed, saying that lockdown measures are sometimes essential to control a public health crisis.

In contrast to Ladapos policy, Wen praised the 2019 decision of New York Commissioner of Health Oxiris Barbot to force unvaccinated people to take the MMR vaccine or pay $1,000 during a measles outbreak. As draconian as these steps might have seemed, they were taken only because it was necessary [to] stop an extremely contagious and highly devastating disease from resurging, Wen said.

Ladapo told the Washington Examiner that he did not make his policy decision lightly, saying that containing an outbreak must be weighed with other political and policy goals, such as learning loss from school isolation.

Its absolutely a fact that measles is very contagious, but the idea that the only thing that matters is reducing the risk of contagion to as low as you possibly can, even if that involves taking draconian measures, that, unfortunately, is what we saw during the pandemic, Ladapo said.

As of the beginning of March, 41 measles cases had been reported in 15 states and New York City. Other countries have struggled recently with measles outbreaks, including Canada and the United Kingdom.

Measles is one of the most contagious known infectious diseases, with 9 in 10 people who do not have either vaccine or natural immunity likely to become infected after exposure.

Children under 5 are most susceptible to serious cases of measles, which can result in lifelong neurological damage, including loss of vision or hearing. One in every 20 children infected with measles can develop pneumonia, which is the leading cause of death from the disease.

The vaccination against measles, mumps, and rubella, or MMR, is highly effective in preventing infection, with those who have at least one dose of the MMR vaccine obtaining 93% immunity, according to the CDC. Immunity against measles goes up to 97% with all three doses.

Following CDC and WHO recommendations, the Florida Department of Health provided information and literature to parents on the risks involved with measles infections and provided pop-up vaccination clinics in the school district to encourage vaccination.

Ladapo said that not many families chose to have their children vaccinated at the clinics, likely because they were more comfortable not receiving a measles vaccine, not changing their mind in terms of the decision they had already made about declining that particular vaccine.

According to the CDC, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the MMR vaccine, which was first developed in 1971, has very small risks of complications.

We allow [vaccine refusal] in Florida, which is a good thing, Ladapo said. We allow parents to make that decision about what they put in their kids bodies.

When asked about the growing problem of vaccine hesitancy worldwide, Ladapo said reasonable skepticism of public health recommendations is very sane and rational and wise in light of a lack of transparency from public health leaders, particularly the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration.

Ladapo earned his joint MD/Ph.D. degree in health policy from Harvard University in 2008 with a research focus on behavioral economic strategies for cardiovascular disease prevention prior to being selected by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for surgeon general in September 2021.

Ladapo has frequently generated significant controversy by contradicting the CDC and other public health agencies and professional groups on COVID-19 epidemiology and policy.

In November 2020, Ladapo wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal advocating the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine even without randomized studies demonstrating efficacy. As surgeon general, Ladapo has called for a pause in the use of mRNA vaccine technology due to concerns about genetic material contamination.

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In Ladapos view, people who have grown skeptical of public health recommendations since the pandemic felt that they were being lied to or manipulated and that the information they were receiving and the recommendations they were receiving were not trustworthy.

Im sure [that] has contributed to more people questioning recommendations in general, including vaccination recommendations, Ladapo said.

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Florida surgeon general says controversial measles policy informed by lessons from COVID-19 - Washington Examiner