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“You’re talking about doing something that no other state in the United States has done in removing the vaccine mandate for public schools,” Tapper said. “You’re making a decision that no other surgeon general in the United States has done. It goes against what’s recommended by every top medical organization including the AMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Boston Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases. It goes against with parents in Florida want — 82 percent of parents in Florida schools said public schools should require vaccines for measles and polio with health and religious exemptions. It goes against what Senator Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, wants. He thinks sticking with a religious exemption is fine. It goes against the Florida Medical Association, which in the past has backed Governor [Ron] DeSantis. So all of these people are wrong, and you are right?!”
“I’m looking at this report from your department from April showing that more people in Florida are seeking religious exemptions for vaccines and at the same time Florida is seeing rising cases of hepatitis A, and whooping cough, and chicken pox,” Tapper told Dr. Ladapo. “This is in your own report, your own department’s report. Before you made this decision to try to lift vaccine mandates for Florida — which include obviously public schools — did your department do any data analysis? Did you do any data projection of how many new cases of these diseases there will be in Florida once you remove vaccine mandates?”
Ladapo said “absolutely not,” and argued that mandates “don’t have anything to do with the notion of transmission. He added,
“ultimately, this is an issue, very clearly, of parents’ rights. So do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to be able to decide what goes into the children’s bodies? I don’t need to do an analysis on that.”
Tapper was incredulous.
“You’re trying to lift the vaccine mandate in Florida, and your department and you did not even do a projection as to how this could impact public health,” Tapper said. “So you have not prepared hospitals in the Florida counties, most at risk, with the best treatments for any outbreaks of measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, polio. And you have not looked into how many kids might now get these preventable diseases? That’s what you’re saying?!”
“No, that’s what you said,” Dr. Ladapo replied. “What I’m saying is that it’s an issue of right and wrong in terms of whether parents should be able to control, have ultimate authority over what happens to their kids’ bodies.”
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“I’m looking at this report from your department from April showing that more people in Florida are seeking religious exemptions for vaccines and at the same time Florida is seeing rising cases of hepatitis A, and whooping cough, and chicken pox,” Tapper told Dr. Ladapo. “This is in your own report, your own department’s report. Before you made this decision to try to lift vaccine mandates for Florida — which include obviously public schools — did your department do any data analysis? Did you do any data projection of how many new cases of these diseases there will be in Florida once you remove vaccine mandates?”
Ladapo said “absolutely not,” and argued that mandates “don’t have anything to do with the notion of transmission. He added,
“ultimately, this is an issue, very clearly, of parents’ rights. So do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to be able to decide what goes into the children’s bodies? I don’t need to do an analysis on that.”
Tapper was incredulous.
“You’re trying to lift the vaccine mandate in Florida, and your department and you did not even do a projection as to how this could impact public health,” Tapper said. “So you have not prepared hospitals in the Florida counties, most at risk, with the best treatments for any outbreaks of measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, polio. And you have not looked into how many kids might now get these preventable diseases? That’s what you’re saying?!”
“No, that’s what you said,” Dr. Ladapo replied. “What I’m saying is that it’s an issue of right and wrong in terms of whether parents should be able to control, have ultimate authority over what happens to their kids’ bodies.”
Jake Tapper Grills Joseph Ladapo on Ending Vaccine Mandate
CNN's Jake Tapper confronted Florida's surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Sunday, about his plan to end vaccine mandates in the state.
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