TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s surgeon general faced major blowback from the medical community after warning men against taking the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines and highlighting an analysis claiming the shots increase the risk of cardiac-related deaths. The guidance from Joseph A. Ladapo even prompted Twitter to temporarily block a social media post from the surgeon general promoting the analysis, though the social media company restored it.
Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University, said Ladapo’s recommendations go against guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics. Other agencies or medical associations, including the Food and Drug Administration and Mayo Clinic, have also emphasized that the vaccines are safe and effective.
“It looks to me like this is politics driving science,” Salmon said on Tuesday. “And the result is you get terrible science.” U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Sarah Lovenheim called Ladapo’s analysis flawed and a far cry from science. “COVID-19 vaccines have been proven safe and effective, and severe adverse reactions are rare,” Lovenheim wrote in a statement. “The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination — preventing death and hospitalization — are well-established and continue to outweigh any potential risks.”