COVID-19 controversy swirled about the mass media and internet with the recent indication by Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, that healthy children need not receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Breaking with the advisory of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which pushes for universal vaccination for all people aged five years and above, Ladapo points out that if kids have already been infected by SARS-CoV-2 and are healthy the risk-benefit profile weighs in favor of avoiding the vaccine. The doctor raises the point of natural immunity which is factored in by health authorities in Europe but not in the United States. In a highly charged and politicized environment, neither side (pro or con) elaborates on the importance of the risk-benefit analysis relevant for any decision to vaccinate children against COVID-19.
The Florida surgeon general made the statement earlier this week at an event titled “The Curtain Close on COVID Theatre.” The event title related to another press event the week before where Gov. Ron DeSantis snapped at some kids standing behind him for wearing masks and participating in what he has labeled “COVID theatre.”
At the most recent event, DeSantis stated, “Over the past two months, the data has shown us what works and what doesn’t work. It is long past time to stop the COVID Theater.”
Ladapo emphasized toward the conclusion “The Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children.”
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Media goes on the Offensive
Now, Surgeon General Ladapo is under big-time attack for announcing there isn’t a need for vaccination for children aged five and above, as reported by many media outlets including the Miami Herald.
The first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines, the move by Dr. Ladapo got the attention of the White House. As reported by The Hill, White House Press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the policy and called the Florida decision “deeply disturbing.” CNN went on the attack: Jake Tapper interviewed Dr. Chris Pernell, who positions herself on her website as an “apostle” of public health, declared “That anti-science propaganda really is deadly and you know that any COVID infection can lead to long COVID, and so long as that is true we need to be doing what is in our best interest to prevent all COVID infections.”
Laura Ingraham of Fox News interviewed Dr Ladapo with Ingraham first inserting that the vaccine doesn’t necessarily stop viral transmission. Ladapo declared, “The media has been hysterical about our announcement, and the argument that you hear is that ‘well you know the vaccines, the COVID vaccines in children reduce the risk of hospitalization.’”
The physician, previously at University of California, Los Angeles, continued, “We are not denying that…that’s not the point that we are discussing.” He continued, “The question that really should be asked—it’s not about whether the vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization, but the question is about whether it’s the right decision for the patient in front of you.”
Florida’s top doctor went on to emphasize the need for data that the other side of the argument doesn’t raise such as the impact of natural immunity and the importance of the associated risk-benefit analysis declaring, “a lot of if not most of the children based on CDC data have already had COVID-19. Do any data indicate that children that have already had COVID-19 who are healthy have any clinical benefit from the COVID-19 vaccine?” Ingraham quickly cut in declaring “No!”
It is true that the COVID vaccines don’t necessarily stop viral transmission, and of course, the Omicron variant of concern, now a dominant mutation, emerged as a more evasive variant against the Pfizer vaccine. It’s also true that from a probability standpoint it’s extremely unlikely that children exposed to COVID will end up very ill. However, the data around long COVID is another matter and wasn’t raised by Ladapo.
There is frankly little debate among the so-called experts in the mainstream media about the importance of risk-benefit analysis as applied to child COVID vaccination. The risks of COVID hospitalization and long COVID associated with healthy children must be understood on one side of the equation against the safety risks (young males face a substantially higher risk for myocarditis for example than others that are vaccinated) as well as what Ladapo points out is the science behind the clinical benefit for healthy young people.
But a healthy scientific debate is hard to find anywhere as the vaccine has become such a societal mission with any safety risks or other mitigating factors such as natural immunity simply ignored. Biomedical research and healthcare have become inherently politicized.