Florida’s surgeon general on Monday said “healthy” children should not get Covid-19 vaccines.
In a roundtable featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced that “the Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children.”
The reasons for that guidance, DeSantis and Ladapo said, have to do with lingering questions about the vaccines’ potential health risks for young people. In rare cases, mRNA vaccines have been linked to myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, among young men and teenage boys.
However, neither Ladapo nor DeSantis offered details on what qualifies a child as “healthy” nor the specific age group to which they were referring.
March 1, 202203:31
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been monitoring reports of myocarditis, and found that cases of the condition “have rarely been reported, especially in adolescents and young adult males within several days after” vaccination.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January suggested that even among the group with the most reports of myocarditis — males ages 16 and 17 — the rate was about 106 out of 1 million.
Those who have reported myocarditis have generally “responded well to medicine and rest and felt better quickly,” the CDC said.
Dr. Marissa Levine, director of the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice at the University of South Florida, said the small risks presented by myocarditis are far outweighed by the proven benefit of Covid vaccines.
“What we saw here was a small group of people talking about some specific data they may have but it’s not a comprehensive view of what’s going on,” Levine said of DeSantis’ roundtable, which also included several doctors and researchers.
And Dr. Tina Carroll-Scott, medical director at South Miami Children’s Clinic, called the new state directive “irresponsible and incorrect.”
“Whatever slight risk there may be with your child getting myocarditis from the vaccine, the risk is way higher from the actual infection from Covid. We need to put that in perspective,” she said.
Carroll-Scott added that she feared a “trickle down effect” from the guidance that could prompt parents to question whether to get their children other shots such as for diphtheria, tetanus, polio and whooping cough.
“I’m seeing this in my own practice already,” she said. “Because now it’s Covid but people are going to say, ‘My child is healthy, why do they need all of these other vaccines?'”
The Florida Department of Health declined to comment immediately on Ladapo’s pronouncement but said the agency would make a more complete statement later Monday.
Ladapo’s stance contradicts CDC guidance, which says all people over age 5 should get vaccinated. When asked for comment, a CDC spokesperson simply referred to its current recommendations.
“The known risks of Covid-19 illness and its related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death, far outweigh the potential risks of having a rare adverse reaction to vaccination, including the possible risk of myocarditis or pericarditis,” the agency’s website says.
Last month, the CDC suggested that males between 12 and 39 years old consider waiting eight weeks between the first and the second doses of an mRNA vaccine to reduce myocarditis risk.
DeSantis tapped Ladapo to lead Florida’s health department last fall. Ladapo previously worked as a health policy researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, and as a physician, and has been vocal in his opposition to vaccination mandates and lockdowns.
Ladapo replaced Dr. Scott Rivkees, whose contract expired. In the pandemic’s early days, Rivkees recommended that Floridians wear masks in public settings, which put him at odds with DeSantis.
Approximately 81 percent of people over 5 in the U.S. have received at least one shot, according to CDC data. Of those 12 and older, the rate is 86 percent.
This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
