Florida surgeon general defies science amid measles outbreak

[IronLionZion]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/02/22/florida-measles-outbreak-ladapo/
Gift Link: https://wapo.st/49Gxfj9



As a Florida elementary school tries to contain a growing measles outbreak, the state’s top health official is giving advice that runs counter to science and may leave unvaccinated children at risk of contracting one of the most contagious pathogens on Earth, clinicians and public health experts said.

Florida surgeon general Joseph A. Ladapo failed to urge parents to vaccinate their children or keep unvaccinated students home from school as a precaution in a letter to parents at the Fort Lauderdale-area school this week following six confirmed measles cases.

Instead of following what he acknowledged was the “normal” recommendation that parents keep unvaccinated children home for up to 21 days — the incubation period for measles — Ladapo said the state health department “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”

The controversial move by Ladapo follows a pattern of bucking public health norms, particularly when it comes to vaccines. Last month, he called for halting the use of mRNA coronavirus vaccines, in a move decried by the public health community.

Ben Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said Florida’s guidance flies in the face of long-standing and widely accepted public health guidance for measles, which can result in severe complications, including death.

Measles is super contagious and spreads very quickly. Trump and RFK Jr. might have fewer voters by election time.

[redqueen]

1. How do so many idiots get advanced degrees?

Ladapo graduated from Wake Forest University and received his medical degree from Harvard and PhD in Health Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Graduated from Harvard but allows parents to decide to risk spreading measles. Make it make sense!

[ScratchCat]

4. I posted in another thread on this topic

That he used be respected in the medical community. When he first got the job and started this anti-vax/science nonsense, one of his former long-time colleagues was on MSNBC or CNN and she essentially "threw her hands in the air" and said she had no explanation why he has gone down this path.

IMO, this is part of the "inevitable result" when a political party no longer stands for anything other than being "against the other side". They have nothing to run on other than "booggieman nonsense" because the majority of Americans no longer agree with conservatives on their main platforms(guns, abortion, taxes, immigration, welfare/ss, etc..).

[limbicnuminousity]

5. This is what happens when a bureaucrat is placed in a medical position.

His training is in policy, not medicine.

[redqueen]

10. He's an MD PhD

How is that not a scientific degree?

[limbicnuminousity]

11. Specialized in Health Policy.

Bureaucrats like him can perform a service by figuring out how to implement policy. They shouldn't be the one's making decisions as to what policy is.

And MD/PhD's, imho, generally suck at both jobs.

[redqueen]

12. I thought the MD part meant he had to take immunology

microbiology, pathology, etc.

I know he's not the only doctor who doesn't seem to care about science. They're all over social media risking other people's health with their half-baked ideas.

[limbicnuminousity]

13. As you note

some doctors don't seem to care much about science. It isn't fair to bash MD/PhDs so harshly. I've known a couple who were near the tops of their fields but they seem few and far between.

To your question, taking a class doesn't make you proficient in the field nor does it mean you have the wisdom to judiciously apply the things you've learned in an academic setting. Learning CPR doesn't help if you don't apply it when a person is having a heart attack. Learning about vaccines doesn't do any good if you refuse to use them. That's true of any discipline.

Here's the thing I've noticed in young doctors, male doctors in particular and in MD/PhDs almost universally. Once they get an idea in their head it's virtually impossible to shake it. If, for example, they have a preferred diagnosis you can forget shaking them of it no matter what evidence piles up. They will literally deny the very evidence right in front of their faces if it conflicts with a pet theory. It's mansplaining medicine with the Dunning-Kruger effect in full swing.

This asshole in Alabama is probably still in the school that favors trephination.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

2. Shithole Governor, shithole Surgeon General.

Reality denied = people died..

[Fla Dem]

3. DiSantis' whole government is F'd up

[ScratchCat]

6. Virtually none of my Republican friends

will even engage me in a conversation about Florida politics or issues. They know Disantis(and Rick Scott) have screwed this State so bad and just whistle in the wind trying to pretend its somehow the fault of anyone other than the Republicans who have run this State for the past two plus decades.

My sister is a 20 plus year college professor and a life-long (R) voter who will no longer vote for them over what they have done to education.

I know several Republican voting women who have had abortions who wont even talk about what Republicans are doing and I know inside they can't believe their votes have resulted in this crazytown anti-women climate that is going around(and its mostly their fault).

Its like just when you thought you couldn't get a worse Governor than Scott......

[ismnotwasm]

7. That fucker Desantis in the background with his trademark smile of constipation

Opportunist tied to medical quackery.
Fucking disgusting

[keep_left]

8. Nothing shows the American death drive like this antivax insanity.

It started with the Covid vaccines: "OMG, baby parts! Bill Gates nanochips!". Now we have a major measles outbreak because public health officials are so cucked by the far right that they won't even do their job. So it's likely that in the future, we will have children with permanent lifelong injury from infection with measles, a completely preventable outcome.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Amid measles cases, Florida's Ladapo fails to urge vaccinations

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo's response to measles cases in an elementary school is facing criticisms. It's part of a familiar pattern. This asshole is going to kill people.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/measles-cases-floridas-ladapo-fails-urge-vaccinations-rcna140017

As the NBC affiliate in Miami reported, that’s not quite what’s happening.

The Florida Department of Health released a letter Tuesday from Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo emphasizing how contagious measles is and how effective the MMR vaccine is in preventing the disease, but Ladapo did not urge parents to immunize their children.

The letter did note the protections that come with vaccinations, but it didn't take the obvious, affirmative step of actually pushing local families to do the responsible thing.

Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University, referencing Ladapo’s statement, told the local NBC outlet, “The letter doesn’t explicitly say we need to get more people vaccinated, and that is a key point that families need to know.”....

Making matters worse is the frequency with which “scientific nonsense” has become the norm in Florida’s surgeon general’s office. Revisiting our earlier coverage, Ladapo has rejected vaccination guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and faced accusations about misleading the public. He’s embarrassed professional colleagues with his antics and urged the public not to trust scientists, physicians, and other public health officials.

Despite the seriousness of the pandemic, Ladapo also questioned the efficacy of Covid vaccines, denounced vaccine requirements, referenced unsubstantiated conspiracy theories to argue against the vaccines, and encouraged Floridians to “stick with their intuition,” as opposed to following the guidance of those who actually know what they’re talking about.

We’re occasionally reminded, however, that his misjudgments are not limited to Covid.

[LiberalFighter]

14. He is part of that crazy group America's Frontline Doctors