On Monday, Florida's surgeon General stated that healthy children shouldn't be vaccinated with Covid-19.
A roundtable discussion featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis, the governor and the state surgeon-general announced that Dr. Joseph Ladapo would be the first state to oppose the Covid-19 vaccines to healthy children.
DeSantis said that Ladapo and Ladapo gave this guidance because of lingering concerns about vaccine safety for young people. Rarely, mRNA vaccinations have been linked with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) in young men and teenagers.
DeSantis and Ladapo did not provide details about what makes a child "healthy" or the age group they were referring to.
has been monitoring myocarditis reports and discovered that the condition is "rarely reported", especially in young adults and adolescents within a few days of" vaccination.
In January, a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that even among the group reporting the most myocarditis cases -- males aged 16-17 -- the rate was only 106 per million.
According to the CDC, myocarditis sufferers have "responded well" to medication and rest and feel better within a short time.
Marissa Levine from the University of South Florida's Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice said that the benefits of Covid vaccines outweigh the risks of myocarditis.
Levine spoke of DeSantis' roundtable that included many doctors and researchers. "What we saw was a small group talking about some data they may have, but it's still not a complete view of what is going on."
South Miami Children's Clinic medical director Dr. Tina Carroll Scott called the state directive "irresponsible" and "incorrect."
"Despite the slight risk of your child developing myocarditis through the vaccine, the risk from an actual Covid infection is much higher than the one that the vaccine poses to them." She said that we need to see this in context.
Carroll-Scott said she was concerned about a "trickle down" effect from the guidance, which could cause parents to reconsider whether they should give their children shots for whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus.
She said, "I see this already in my own practice." "Because it's Covid, but people will say, 'My baby is healthy, why should they need all these other vaccines?'
Although the Florida Department of Health did not immediately respond to Ladapo's announcement, it said that they would issue a more detailed statement Monday.
Ladapo's stance is in contradiction to CDC guidance which states that everyone over 5 years old should be vaccinated. A spokesperson for the CDC simply referred to its current recommendations when asked for comment.
According to , the known risks of Covid-19 disease and its associated, potentially severe complications such as long-term problems in health, hospitalization and even death far outweigh any potential risks of having an adverse reaction to vaccination.
The CDC recommended last month that males aged 12 to 39 wait eight weeks between their first and second doses of an mRNA vaccination in order to lower myocarditis risks.
DeSantistapped Ladapo as the head of Florida's health agency last fall. Ladapa was previously a researcher on health policy at the University of California Los Angeles and a doctor. He has voiced his opposition to vaccine lockdowns and mandates.
Ladapo replaced Dr. Scott Rivkees, who had his contract terminated. Rivkees suggested that Floridians use masks in public places during the early stages of the pandemic. This put him in conflict with DeSantis.
According to CDC data , approximately 81 percent of Americans over the age of 5 have had at least one shot. The rate for those aged 12 and over is 86 per cent.
