Florida’s vaccine-sceptic Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is warning everyone under 65 not to get a new Covid booster shot

Florida’s surgeon general said the state’s health officials would warn anyone under 65 not to get the new Covid booster shot.

Dr. Joseph Ladapo – who was accused last year of spreading faulty vaccine data – claimed today there are “completely no numbers” on whether the updated vaccines work.

Dr. Lapado — who was hand-picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — also spread the false claim that there was “not a drop of clinical trial data” supporting the vaccines.

Dr. Lapado told a vaccine panel today: “I just think that at this point, given the immunity that exists in the community, virtually every walking human being has some level of immunity.”

“And the questions that we have about safety and about effectiveness, particularly about safety, I don’t think is a good decision for young people and people who are not at high risk at this point in the pandemic.”

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, said the state will not recommend people under 65 years of age to receive the updated Covid boosters

The graph above shows deaths from cardiac arrest among those under 34 for each year since 2000. It is from the CDC Wonder database. The dates for 2021 and 2022 are preliminary

Dr. Ladapo has repeatedly confirmed claims that the vaccines cause widespread heart problems in young people; a connection has been repeatedly refuted by large studies.

Vaccinations are associated with a very low risk of myocarditis in young people; around one in 30,000 people under 40 are affected after the second vaccination.

But the cases are usually mild and resolve on their own without the need for medical intervention.

A Covid infection also triggers myocarditis more often than the vaccines, studies show.

And data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the cardiac death rate for Americans under 34 is similar to what it was before the pandemic.

The updated Covid vaccinations, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just this week, are considered safe for everyone aged six months and older and are recommended for everyone in that age group.

However, Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo said at a vaccine panel hosted by DeSantis that there is “completely no data” on whether the updated vaccines work.

The state’s top health official was joined by several other doctors who claimed that authorizing booster shots was “irresponsible” and that the FDA and CDC were “failing” to do their jobs.

The recent statement from Dr. Ladapo comes days after he warned Americans not to take the updated vaccine because of “red flags” over safety concerns, and amid mixed recommendations from health experts about who should and should not roll up their sleeves to get the latest booster shot.

DeSantis echoed Dr. Ladapo wrote in a press release sent after the panel: “I will not stand idly by as the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven to be safe or effective.”

“I will not stand idly by as the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster vaccinations that have not been proven to be safe or effective,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote in a news release issued after Panel was sent

During the panel discussion, Dr. Ladapo CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen for her statement on Tuesday saying: “Vaccination remains the best protection against hospitalizations and deaths related to Covid-19.”

“She made this statement without a drop of clinical trial data on these just-approved products, which says nothing about their effectiveness or their safety in humans,” said Dr. Ladapo.

“We’re at a point right now where the director of the CDC is making very clear statements despite no data, and somehow a lot of people believe that’s true.”

“It’s not something that should be ignored if the goal is to support people’s health.”

“It is a tremendous disservice to every American and, frankly, every person on this planet who is afraid of getting Covid-19,” Dr. Ladapo continued.

Doctors who support DeSantis and Dr. Ladapo expressed concern about the lack of research on the new vaccines. Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, an epidemiologist at the University of California San Francisco who participated in the panel, pointed to a small study conducted on one of the boosters made by Moderna.

The study examined 50 participants and found that one person, or two percent of the study population, experienced side effects that were directly related to the vaccine.

Dr. Hoeg did not say what the adverse impact was.

“At the moment we have a complete lack of useful data.” “It puts us all in a very difficult position when it comes to whether or not we recommend these vaccinations,” said Dr. Hoeg.

“As far as we know, healthy people under the age of 65 have very little benefit from the vaccination.” “We don’t know what benefit the vaccine will have.”

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University, told the panel: “There is no chance that a product like this would have come to market with the data currently available.”

“I think it is a completely irresponsible step for the FDA to approve this product and for the CDC to recommend that everyone take it.”

“It’s absolutely critical for our regulators to require these pharmaceutical companies to submit better data if they want approval. That’s their job, and they’re failing at it.”

The FDA approved new booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer on Tuesday, and the CDC urged every adult and child over six months old to take the new vaccine, which targets newer versions of the Omicron variant.

Health officials are hoping to boost immunity levels nationwide before winter as Covid rates rise nationwide for the first time this year – although leading experts believe it is a mild wave of the virus.

This is the second booster the CDC has recommended. Last year, the CDC also recommended the bivalent Covid booster vaccination for everyone six months and older.

However, other countries have only approved the previous booster shot for older age groups, with the UK giving the green light to those over 50 and Italy to those over 60.

But there are signs health officials will struggle to get Americans to sign up for the new Covid booster shot this year after acceptance fell last year.

Overall, only 17 percent of eligible Americans have voted in favor of the bivalent vaccine, which protects against versions of Omicron.

Among those over 65 – who are at greatest risk of serious illness – almost six in ten did not come forward for vaccination.

Some experts are already urging only older Americans to come forward for the updated Covid booster shot. Dr. Paul Offit, who sits on the FDA’s vaccine advisory board, told DailyMail.com last week that healthy adults under 75 had no need to get the shot.

This comes as Covid indicators continue to rise in the US amid the emergence of new, more transmissible variants.

The number of Covid hospitalizations rose by almost nine percent in a week, reaching 18,871 admissions in the seven days to September 2nd.