Florida's Experiment With Measles - No one will be forced to not get sick

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

The state of Florida is trying out a new approach to measles control: No one will be forced to not get sick.

Joseph Ladapo, the state’s top health official, announced this week that the six cases of the disease reported among students at an elementary school in Weston, near Fort Lauderdale, do not merit emergency action to prevent unvaccinated students from attending class. Temporary exclusions of that kind while an outbreak is ongoing are part of the normal public-health response to measles clusters, as a means of both protecting susceptible children and preventing further viral spread. But Ladapo is going his own way.

“Due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational cost of healthy children missing school,” he said in a letter released on Tuesday, the state’s health department “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”

That decision came off as brazen, even for an administration that has made systematic efforts to lower vaccination rates among its constituents over the past two years. Ladapo’s letter acknowledges the benefits of vaccination, as well as the fact that vulnerable children are “normally recommended” to stay home. Still, it doesn’t bother giving local parents the bare-minimum advice that all kids who are able should get their MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) shots, Dorit Reiss, a professor and vaccine-policy expert at UC Law San Francisco, told me: “I wouldn’t have expected him, in the middle of a measles outbreak, to be willing to sacrifice children in this way.”

The Florida Department of Health has not responded to a request for comment on Ladapo’s future plans, should this situation worsen. For the moment, though, he has chosen to lower the guardrails from their standard height. It’s an escalation of his, and Florida’s, broader push against established norms in public health, especially as they relate to vaccination. So what happens now?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/florida-s-experiment-with-measles/ar-BB1iJtiN

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Yes, lets leave vaccination issues for low information parents to decide.

Heaven help us.

[yellowdogintexas]

2. Damn shame! Florida once had the most extensive well child program in the country

Every vaccination was covered as well as complete physical exams on the schedule recommended by pediatricians through age 18

This applied to all insurance plans issued in Florida, back when many states did not mandate it.

[Celerity]

3. Floriduh, the shit-holing of which continues apace.

[BadgerKid]

4. Yet for abortion and IFV, the GOP won't defer

To the would-be parents?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. 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.

[Trailrider1951]

6. The stupidity there is breath-taking

Quote by Ladapo: "Due to the high immunity rate in the community". Unquote.
And why is there a “high immunity rate in the community"? Why, vaccinations, of course!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

7. exactly