WaPo Editorial Board: Gov. Ron DeSantis abandons Florida children
Earlier DU thread: DeSantis says Florida is 'affirmatively against' Covid-19 vaccines for young kids
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Source: Washington Post
Opinion ǀ Gov. Ron DeSantis abandons Florida children
By the Editorial Board
June 18, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
At last, the nation’s youngest children will get some protection from the coronavirus. Regulatory approval means shots could be administered as soon as this week to children under 5 years old. The mRNA vaccines that have been lifesavers for adults will come in smaller doses for children that, while not perfect, should at least prevent serious illness or death. This is welcome news everywhere but in Florida.
In an astoundingly callous move, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Department of Health has refused to put in an order with the federal government for a supply of the pediatric vaccines for children under 5, leaving pediatricians and parents to scramble on their own. The deadline for placing a preorder was Tuesday, and the 49 other states met the cutoff. The department said in a statement that it “does not recommend” the shot “for all children,” but, after protests, announced on Friday that it would begin accepting orders for shots from doctors and health-care providers. The department is led by state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a DeSantis appointee who has been an outspoken skeptic of coronavirus vaccines.
At a Miami news conference, Mr. DeSantis left no doubt this recklessness came from the top. “I would say we are affirmatively against the covid vaccine for young kids,” he said. “These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.”
Not exactly. While child deaths and hospitalizations are an extremely small fraction of the total, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that 1,055 children nationwide have died of covid. In total, some 13.5 million children of all ages have been infected over the course of the pandemic. Florida has had 386,196 cases from ages 5 to 11 during the pandemic, and 187,307 in children under 5, according to the state. This is not “zero risk.”
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/18/ron-desantis-florida-refuses-children-covid-vaccines/
Non-paywalled link: https://wapo.st/3tJHIYH
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