Count this as another slap in the face to the Biden Regime from Ron DeSantis.
On Tuesday, the Florida governor announced a new surgeon general for the Sunshine State.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo.
Dr. Ladapo doesn’t push the mainstream narrative parroted by Fraudci on CNN and MSNBC.
He’s touted hydroxychloroquine as a viable early treatment for COVID-19.
The Harvard Medical School graduate has also opposed lockdowns, mask mandates, and signed The Great Barrington Declaration.
The Great Barrington Declaration is a petition signed by epidemiologists and public health scientists that noted the catastrophic effects of typical COVID-19 policies.
Dr. Ladapo lamented the federal government’s fear tactics and promoted medical freedom of choice as the way forward.
And in previous op-eds, Dr. Ladapo questioned the safety of experimental COVID-19 injections and denounced vaccine mandates.
His appointment is a win for the state of Florida.
BREAKING: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appoints new surgeon general: Dr. Joseph Ladapo is skeptical of vaccines, opposes masks & signed The Great Barrington Declaration.https://t.co/MRbAOlrNoe
— The HighWire (@HighWireTalk) September 22, 2021
Today, I appointed Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD as Florida Surgeon General and Secretary of the Florida Department of Health. He has a remarkable academic and medical career, and will bring great leadership to @healthyFla. Watch: https://t.co/7b3KnwIpjI
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 21, 2021
Remember this press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court – doctors touting hydroxychloroquine, prompting praise from then-President Trump and Google, Twitter, and Facebook to take the video down?
Florida’s new Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, was a speaker. 👇 pic.twitter.com/wDQHNkkNXn
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) September 21, 2021
Ron DeSantis appoints Great Barrington Declaration signer Dr. Joseph Ladapo as Florida’s new Surgeon General.https://t.co/6ter3n1KoJ
— Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) September 22, 2021
"Florida will completely reject fear as a way of making policies in public health. That's been, unfortunately, a centerpiece of health policy in the US ever since the beginning of the pandemic. And it's over here, expiration date, it's done.” – Dr. Ladapo https://t.co/3I2zqEJZRM
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) September 21, 2021
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, MD, PHD (Harvard for both) is a health policy researcher, Associate Professor at UCLA Med School, cares for hospitalized patients, and is my spirit animal.
I have been reading his articles and I agree with everything he says. https://t.co/kfg5j2uO62
— Kim Iversen 🇺🇸 (@KimIversenShow) September 18, 2021
BIG BIG NEWS. SCIENCE HAS RETURNED TO GOVERNMENT!!
👇👇👇👇👇👇
Joseph A. Ladapo named Florida's new surgeon general https://t.co/11pVqZUjYD— Dr. Urso (@richardursomd) September 22, 2021
Unsurprisingly, the control freaks already unleashed a blitzkrieg against Dr. Ladapo for denouncing the mainstream narrative.
Legacy media is smearing Dr. Joseph Ladapo as a lunatic because he was appointed as FL's new Surgeon General.
That's right. A UCLA+NYU tenured professor & Harvard med school graduate is now a Bad Man because he engaged in Wrongthink about masks and WrongAssociation w/ DeSantis.
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) September 21, 2021
"We need to respect human rights, that people have autonomy over their lives, & it’s not okay to… it’s not virtuous & it’s not right to take away those rights from individuals." – Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida's new Surgeon General.
Now you know why the media is going after him.
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) September 21, 2021
.@GovRonDeSantis appointing Dr. Joseph Ladapo — an anti-masker and vaccine skeptic — as surgeon general is a complete slap in the face to the families of the more than 50,000 Floridians who have died from COVID.https://t.co/e0HvZQmjXZ
— Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) September 21, 2021
I'm speechless. I attended medical school with Dr. Joseph Ladapo and to say I'm shocked by his opposition to mask and vaccine mandates is an understatement. I could have never imagined this news.https://t.co/rAUBQYSQIl
— uché blackstock, md (@uche_blackstock) September 21, 2021
ars TECHNICA reported:
“Florida will completely reject fear as a way of making policies in public health,” Ladapo said in a press conference Tuesday after DeSantis announced his appointment. Fear, he said, has “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.”
Florida has been one of the hardest-hit states in the pandemic, particularly amid the current wave driven by the hypertransmissible delta coronavirus variant. In early August, the Sunshine State accounted for 20 percent of all COVID-19 cases occurring in the US. Throughout the wave—which is finally receding in Florida—DeSantis has opposed vaccine mandates and fiercely fought mask mandates in schools.
Ladapo appears to share his thinking. In a series of opinion pieces in The Wall Street Journal, Ladapo has argued against mask mandates and vaccine mandates and played up fears about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which have been found to be remarkably safe as well as effective. Meanwhile, Ladapo has pointed to unproven and ineffective drugs, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, as treatments for COVID-19.
In the press conference Tuesday, Ladapo declined to say that he would promote vaccines and downplayed their role in helping bring an end to the pandemic.
“The state should be promoting good health, and vaccination isn’t the only path to that,” Ladapo said. “It’s been treated almost like a religion, and that’s just senseless. There’s a lot of good pathways to health, and vaccination is not the only one. So, we support measures for good health—that’s vaccination, losing weight, it’s exercising more, it’s eating more fruits and vegetables, everything. We support it all.”
The Miami Herald also weighed in:
Since the start of the pandemic, Ladapo has penned op-eds in the Wall Street Journal challenging main assertions by national health experts.
When asked about whether people should fear the vaccine, Ladapo said Tuesday those fears were driven by a “climate of mistrust” in the public about the nation’s coronavirus response. That sentiment is similar to those made by DeSantis since the start of the pandemic.
“That was a direct result of scientists, my colleagues, some of them, taking the science and basically misrepresenting it to fit their agendas,” Ladapo said. “This idea that people don’t get to make their own decisions on issues of health is wrong and it’s not something that we’re going to be about.”
When asked whether Florida should be promoting vaccines, Ladapo replied that too much emphasis had been placed on that approach.
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