Florida’s surgeon general has said children who have not been vaccinated against measles can still attend school amid an outbreak of the disease — a move that goes against CDC guidelines.
A school in the state’s south is responding to an outbreak of measles after six students tested positive.
In a letter to parents at school Joseph Ladapo said he would leave the choice of keeping unvaccinated children at home up to parents.
CDC health officials say unvaccinated children should stay home for 21 days after exposure to an infected individual to avoid contracting the disease.
Doctors have accused Dr Ladapo of endangering vulnerable children.
Dr. Ladapo has previously been criticized for his comments about Covid jabs being unsafe and refusing to wear a mask during the pandemic.
Dr. Ladapo had repeatedly clashed with science on the pandemic, especially vaccines
Last month he called for an end to the use of mRNA Covid shots, which was met with fierce opposition from the medical community.
A sixth case of measles was reported at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston, Florida. Doctors were notified on Friday, February 16, of the first case of measles – a third-grader with no travel history.
A letter to parents signed by Dr Ladapo on Tuesday acknowledged that the ‘normal’ recommendation is for unvaccinated children to stay home for 21 days – the period during which the virus can be transmitted.
But it said: “DOH leaves school attendance decisions up to parents or guardians.”
According to the CDC, Florida’s MMR vaccination rate is approximately 91 percent, which is lower than the national rate of 93 percent.
The CDC has not responded to Dr. Ladapo’s advice.
Dr. Ladapo has also strayed from CDC guidelines on the safety of the Covid shots.
In October 2021, he said more information was needed about how safe the jabs were.
All jabs are put through rigorous testing before being approved for use in humans to ensure they are safe.
Top health authorities in America, including the CDC, have repeatedly said they are safe to use.
Ben Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, responded to Dr. Ladapo’s advice to parents about measles: “It goes against everything I’ve ever heard and everything I’ve read.
‘It goes against our policy. It goes against what the CDC would recommend.”
Meanwhile, measles is on the rise. The CDC has reported at least 26 cases in at least twelve states, which is almost double the number at this time last year.
According to the CDC, MMR vaccine coverage dropped by another two percent between the 2019-2021 school year and the 2022-2023 school year, meaning about a quarter of a million U.S. preschoolers are at risk of measles infection.
Exemptions from school shooting also reached a record high: more than five percent in ten states.
Experts have said the outbreaks are partly due to the increasing number of parents refusing to have their children vaccinated following the political fallout from Covid mandates and misinformation about vaccine safety.
Measles virus particles can remain in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the room, meaning that up to 90 percent of people without immunity will become infected if exposed.
For the MMR vaccine, the recommended two doses are 97 percent effective against measles, the CDC reports. One dose is 93 percent effective.
John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, said, “The reason there is an outbreak of measles in Florida schools is because too many parents have not had their children protected by the safe and effective measles vaccine.
‘And why is that? That’s because the anti-vaccine sentiment in Florida is coming from the top of the public health food chain: Joseph Ladapo.”
Paul Offit, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Ladapo’s refusal to encourage vaccination puts children in serious danger.
“Is he trying to prove that measles is not a contagious disease when the data is clear that it is the most contagious vaccine-preventable disease, far more contagious than flu or Covid?” he told the Washington Post.
Dr. Ladapo previously said the mRNA Covid jabs increase the risk of heart-related death in young men by 84 percent.
The vaccine-skeptical official cited an analysis from the Florida Department of Health to support his claims — but independent scientists say it has major statistical flaws.