Florida Surgeon General Nominee Ladapo 'Done With' Vaccine 'Fear'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced that Dr. Joseph Ladapo would be the state's new surgeon general and secretary of its health department.

"Joe has had a remarkable academic and medical career," DeSantis, a Republican, said of the Harvard-trained M.D. and Ph.D., according to the Florida news station WJHG7.

Ladapo, who is awaiting the approval of the Florida Legislature, says that "we're done with fear," according to Real Clear Politics. "That's something that's been unfortunately a centerpiece of health policy in the United States ever since the beginning of the pandemic, and it's over here. Expiration date, it's done."

Ladapo said that the state will approach COVID-19 openly and scientifically. The state will approach policymaking, he said, in a manner that is "very explicit about the differences between 'the science' and our opinions."

"What's been happening over the past year is that people have been taking the science, and they've been misrepresenting it. … It's been unclear where the discussion about 'the science' ends and discussion about how you feel about the science and what you want people to do with the science begins."

According to WPTV5, when asked what he thinks about vaccination against COVID-19, Ladapo responded: "The state should be promoting good health, and vaccination isn't the only path to that. It's been treated almost like a religion, and that's just senseless, right? There are lots of good pathways to health, and vaccination's not the only one."

DeSantis, who has promoted the use of other ways to treat COVID-19, said information that suggests alternative treatments to vaccines has been suppressed by the powers that be in Washington.

Speaking about monoclonal antibodies, DeSantis said: "I do think that one of the reasons why this was not something that was put out there very publicly by the experts and by the powers [that] be in D.C. is because they feared that if you tell people there's an effective treatment, you tell people COVID's a treatable illness, they feared some people would say, 'Well, you know, maybe I won't get vaccinated. I'll just get the treatment.

''And so they didn't want that message out because they feared how people would behave."

DeSantis went on to criticize the Biden administration for cutting Florida's supply of monoclonal antibodies.

"That's wrong," the governor said. "That is dead wrong, and why are they targeting Florida? Biden, he loves talking about Florida. He hates Florida more than anything, and this is absolutely going to hurt people."

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