Donald Trump’s least convincing impersonator, Ron DeSantis, is bringing the president’s attacks on science and the health and safety of children to the Sunshine State.
DeSantis’ handpicked state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced Wednesday the state will move to eliminate all vaccine requirements for children to attend public schools. That means Florida children will no longer need to get vaccinated against measles, polio, mumps, or chickenpox. It would be the first state to eliminate such requirements.
Speaking about vaccine mandates on Wednesday, Ladapo said: “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” adding: “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and God.” Ladapo is best-known for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, including the claim that mRNA-based vaccines may threaten “the integrity of the human genome.”
DeSantis additionally announced the launch of a state MAHA Commission, named after the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan popularized by Health and Human Services Secretary and one-time brain-worm haver Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
DeSantis said the state’s commission will work toward “improving transparency and accountability in health care” and “restoring trust in the medical profession and in public health.”
The governor’s pledge to end all childhood vaccine mandates in Florida comes as the Trump administration, led by Kennedy, conducts a sweeping assault on science and the ability of Americans to vaccinate themselves and their children. It comes as measles, a highly contagious disease that was once eradicated in the United States, is spreading throughout the country once again.
Kennedy has long promoted the baseless theory that some childhood vaccines cause autism, and once claimed “there’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.”
Under RFK Jr.’s leadership at the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), the Trump administration has restricted eligibility for Covid vaccines and booster shots, and there’s concern the administration will attempt to remove them from the shelves altogether. Last week, the White House attempted to oust the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), creating chaos throughout the agency.
In June, Kennedy fired members of the panel that advises the CDC on vaccine safety, so he could attempt to replace them with non-experts who share his views.
DeSantis is now making Florida healthy again the same way Trump and Kennedy are doing so at a national level: by putting everyone at risk of getting diseases that vaccines have protected us from.
