Florida surgeon general warns against COVID vaccine
Dr. Joseph Ladapo tells Fox News Digital why he believes the new vaccine is a "terrible idea" and a "major safety concern"
The new COVID-19 vaccine is now available at participating pharmacies and health care providers, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends it for everyone 6 months of age and older — yet not all health experts are on board.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, spoke on camera to Fox News Digital about his concerns surrounding the updated COVID shot.
"It's just a really terrible idea," Ladapo said. "And it's remarkable and really spellbinding that [the CDC] would make that kind of recommendation in the absence of evidence."
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By "evidence," Ladapo is referring to clinical trials, which were not conducted for the new vaccine.
"The FDA and CDC could have compelled Pfizer or Moderna to conduct clinical trials — that's something that's totally doable — and they didn't do it," he noted.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, spoke in an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital about his concerns about the updated COVID shot. "It's just a really terrible idea," he said. (Getty Images/iStock)
‘The risks are very real’
In addition to the rare risk of myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — Ladapo shared his concerns about other potentially dangerous side effects of the vaccine.
"The risks are very real, which adds to the madness of the way that the CDC and the FDA are making decisions right now," the Florida surgeon general said.
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One of those risks, he said, is something called "negative effectiveness" — a phenomenon in which contact among vaccinated people can result in the vaccines becoming less effective.
Multiple studies across various countries and time periods have demonstrated that after a few months of boosters, the vaccine effectiveness appears to "go negative," according to Ladapo.
Joseph Lapado, Florida's surgeon general, left, is shown speaking during a press conference at Broward Health Medical Center on Jan. 3, 2022, as Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the right, listens. (Getty Images)
While there are other potential scientific explanations, the doctor said there appears to be some effect on immunity — and an increased risk of infection — stemming from the many COVID-19 vaccines.
"I suspect that it is a real finding and a major safety concern," he said. "And they’re pushing the product on human beings. That is an anti-human approach … an anti-human policy."
Another potential risk of the new COVID vaccine, according to Ladapo, is that multiple studies have linked it to the presence of spike protein in the body, up to six months after injection.
The spike protein — which is found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 — helps to enable the entry of the virus into healthy cells.
"There are so many reasons to say ‘pause’ at this point. Instead, the CDC and FDA are saying 'full steam ahead.'"
"The CDC was vocal about the spike protein being a very short-lived phenomenon … and now we have people who, for prolonged periods of time, seem to have evidence of spike proteins circulating in their tissues," Ladapo said. "Is that a safe outcome? I don't think so."
He added, "It raises serious questions about the appropriateness of using these products in human beings."
State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo speaks during a press conference at Neo City Academy in Kissimmee, Florida, in September 2021. "Human beings deserve better than these products that have very high rates … of serious adverse events," he said of the COVID vaccine in a new interview with Fox News Digital. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
"Human beings deserve better than these products that have very high rates … of serious adverse events."
Ladapo cited a 2022 study led by UCLA and the University of Maryland — published in the journal Vaccine — which found that there was a 16% higher risk of serious adverse events in mRNA vaccine recipients.
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"There are so many reasons to say ‘pause’ at this point," he said.
"Instead, the CDC and FDA are saying 'full steam ahead.’"
Ladapo clarified that he is not against therapies that have proven to be safe and effective, such as the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
"The risks are very real, which adds to the madness of the way that the CDC and the FDA are making decisions right now."
"We’re very supportive of treatment," he told Fox News Digital. "The problem with considering this many COVID-19 vaccines for any population right now is that there's no clinical evidence for them. That's a major problem."
The "real shame," Ladapo said, is that it would have been easy for health agencies to run trials and gather evidence of the vaccine’s safety.
"COVID circulates year-round, and high-risk individuals tend to have higher rates of infection. We could have found the answer to that question."
The new COVID-19 vaccine is now available at participating pharmacies and health care providers — and the CDC is recommending it for everyone 6 months of age and older. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
As a physician, Ladapo said he would be "very uncomfortable recommending the new COVID vaccine to anyone at this point in time, given the absence of clinical data."
He went on, "With the questions about negative efficacy, the persistence of spike protein, and then the stuff we've seen related to thromboembolic events like strokes and cardiac injury, I don't feel comfortable … recommending [the vaccine] to any living being on this planet."
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To protect themselves, Ladapo recommends that people try to "be as healthy as they can" and take medications as needed.
"But they should be safe medications," he clarified. "This is really an insult to humanity to be pushing this medication on them."
"The virus itself is more concerning than the potential for vaccine side effects," Dr. Marc Siegel told Fox News Digital. (Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belgia/AFP via Getty Images)
Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, said he recommends the vaccine for kids who are at a higher risk, elderly people, and those who have underlying conditions including obesity, heart disease, cancer, lung disease and immunodeficiencies.
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"The virus itself is more concerning than the potential for vaccine side effects," the doctor told Fox News Digital.
Those who have had COVID recently or who have had a bad reaction to previous vaccines, however, "should probably not take it," Siegel said.