Florida Advises Against New Covid Boosters For Most Age Groups, Citing No ‘Sufficient Clinical Evidence’
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced on Wednesday that the state’s Department of Health (FDOH) is officially advising against the use of Covid boosters for people under the age of 65. The announcement comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to recommend new Covid shots “for all Americans ages six months and older.”
“In Florida, we will always use common sense and protect the rights and liberties of Floridians, including the right to accurate information,” Ladapo said during a virtual discussion hosted by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to a press release from the FDOH, the agency based its new recommendations on the “absence of any meaningful booster-specific clinical trial data performed in humans” that warrants the shots’ approval by federal health agencies. FDOH also claimed that the federal government “failed to provide sufficient data to support the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.”
“I will not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven to be safe or effective,” DeSantis said. “Once again, Florida is the first state in the nation to stand up and provide guidance based on truth, not Washington edicts.”
Drs. Jay Bhattacharya, Tracy Beth Hoeg, and Patrick Whelan also attended Wednesday’s discussion.
Since their rollout two years ago, mounting medical data indicates the mRNA shots are not as “safe” and “effective” as originally marketed. An analysis published by Ladapo’s office in October, for example, found “an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.” In citing the analysis, Ladapo officially updated his office’s guidance on the jabs, advising against giving them to 18-39-year-old males.
Moreover, nations such as France, Denmark, Germany, and others have recommended against “the distribution of the Moderna Covid shots for individuals under the age of 30,” with all of them “citing the documented risk of heart inflammation among young people as justification.”
In response to such concerns, both Florida and Texas have launched respective investigations into the shots’ manufacturers for any potential “wrongdoing.” Meanwhile, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced last week plans to call an emergency session of the state legislature to pass legislation that — among other Covid-related provisions — would mandate the state’s health department collect and make public “any potential risks and harms associated with the administration of the [Covid] vaccine or immunization.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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