CDC, FDA warn Florida surgeon general over his COVID-19 vaccine guidance

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Two of the United States' top health agencies have sent a letter to the surgeon general of Florida, accusing him of misleading the public on COVID-19 vaccine side effects. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the joint letter to Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on Friday.

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Dr. Joseph Ladapo speaks with reporters after the Florida Senate confirmed his appointment as the state's surgeon general. ((AP Photo/Brendan Farrington, File))

"Focusing on adverse events in the absence of causal association and without the perspective of countervailing benefits is a great disservice to both individuals and public health," the agencies wrote. 

The letter continued, "Like every other medical intervention, there are adverse effects from vaccination. Serious adverse events from COVID-19 vaccines are rare and are far outweighed by the benefits of these vaccines for every age group."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (iStock)

In March 2022, Ladapo recommended that certain segments of the population forgo the COVID-19 vaccine due to possible side effects that he believed could outweigh health benefits.

Analysis conducted by the Department of Health in Florida showed an "84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males, 18 to 39 years old within 28 days following the mRNA vaccination."

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READ THE CDC/FDA LETTER - APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

In their Friday letter, the CDC and FDA rejected this assertion.

"The claim that the increase of VAERS reports of life-threatening conditions reported from Florida and elsewhere represents an increase of risk caused by the COVID-19 vaccines is incorrect, misleading and could be harmful to the American public," the letter read.

The health agencies insisted that Ladapo was conflating unrelated health issues with negative effects of the vaccine, muddying the data.

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Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

They wrote, "Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination do not mean that a vaccine caused the event. Since December 2020, almost 270 million people have received more than 670 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., with over 50 million people having received the updated bivalent vaccine."

The CDC and FDA went on to claim that studies had found a lower rate of strokes and heart attack among vaccinated individuals.

"Despite increased reports of these events, when the concern was examined in detail by cardiovascular experts, the risk of stroke and heart attack was actually lower in people who had been vaccinated, not higher," the letter asserted.

Florida health officials pushed back on the letter in a statement to Fox News.

"The response from the federal government is just another redundant display of the same apathetic talking point of ‘safe and effective.’ Googling their fact sheets would have achieved the same result. While the Feds gaslight the American public, Florida pushes for the truth," wrote Florida Department of Health Communications Director Nikki Whiting.

She continued, "Three inquiries remain unanswered: 1. Access to raw patient-level data to allow for unbiased research; 2. Adequate attention surrounding the risks detected by numerous researchers around the world; 3. Public transparency from the CDC, FDA, and Big Pharma."