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In the latest round of battling between federal and DeSantis administration officials about COVID-19 issues, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo advised people under age 65 not to receive the newly-approved COVID-19 booster vaccines. FILE PHOTO
Don’t expect federal approval of updated COVID-19 vaccines to reshape political views about “jabs,” as Gov. Ron DeSantis likes to call them.
Amid an uptick this summer in infections and hospitalizations from a variant of the virus, a University of South Florida survey found “attitudes toward the pandemic remain starkly divided along political lines.”
Conducted between Aug. 10 and Aug. 21, the survey concluded 84 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans were willing to receive continuing vaccine boosters.
“Conversely, Republicans reported lower levels of trust in public health guidance and were significantly more likely to express belief in the misinformation themes,” the school’s research team said last week in announcing the survey results.
The divisions played out after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved new versions of vaccines that it said are “formulated to more closely target currently circulating variants.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday said people 6 months old and older should receive the updated vaccines.
But on Wednesday, in the latest round of battling between federal and DeSantis administration officials about COVID-19 issues, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo advised people under age 65 not to receive the newly approved vaccines.
“At this point with the amount of immunity that’s in the community … and the questions we have about safety and about effectiveness, but especially about safety, my judgment is that it’s not a good decision for young people and for people who are not at high risk at this point in the pandemic,” Ladapo said. “Individuals 65 and older should discuss this information with their health care provider.”
In March, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued an open letter warning Ladapo that his stances on COVID-19 vaccines were “harmful.”
Ladapo, who appeared Wednesday with DeSantis to discuss the issue and heads the Department of Health, has become a nationally prominent skeptic of COVID-19 vaccines and federal policies dealing with the pandemic. DeSantis also has made opposition to such measures as mask requirements and lockdowns a signature political issue as he runs for president.
Democrats quickly linked the state guidance to DeSantis' bid to become the Republican presidential nominee.
“By encouraging millions to reject public health guidance, the governor is actively putting our seniors and at-risk residents in harm’s way,” Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, said in a prepared statement. “Try as he might, DeSantis’ dangerous political posturing will not resuscitate his flailing presidential campaign.”
DeSantis last week held an event in Jacksonville to reassert his opposition to measures such as mask requirements, describing them as an attempt by people on the left to “expand government control.”
As of Aug. 31, a reported 90,232 Florida residents had died of COVID-19, according to Florida Department of Health data. Nearly 78 percent of those deaths involved people age 65 or older.
By Jim Turner and Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
