Despite scientific evidence to th contrary from federal agencies, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo this week bolstered the link between the Covid-19 vaccine and cardiac arrests suffered by two University of Southern California basketball players. One of those players is Los Angeles Lakers player Lebron James’ son.
Days after Bronny James went to the hospital because of a cardiac arrest he had during basketball practice, Ladapo took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to claim that the players were forced or misled into getting the vaccine.
Another USC player Vince Iwuchukwu suffered from a cardiac arrest also during practice last July, according to CNN.
Although the university no longer requires the COVID-19 vaccine on campus, according to its website, Lebron James said he and his family got vaccinated in 2021, according to a CBS News article.
Vaccine defiance
This isn’t the first time Ladapo has made such claims.
Before his Senate confirmation in the Legislature for another term as the state’s top doctor, the Tampa Bay Times and POLITICO reported that Ladapo had personally altered the findings of a state study to suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine posed a high risk of cardiac-related deaths for young men. Drafts of the state data had indicated that the risk of cardiac injury was greater after getting infected with COVID-19 than after receiving the vaccine, according to the reporting from Tampa Bay Times and POLITICO.
All Democrats in the Senate voted against Ladapo’s confirmation in May.
In a subsequent post on Thursday, Ladapo wrote that Florida data and a study out of the University of Basel in Switzerland supported his claim. However, the Swiss study found that the risk of myocardial injury from COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccination was more common than previously thought, but that it was mild and transient and more common among women.
Ladapo also criticized the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for staying silent on the topic.
But back in March, top leaders at both agencies blasted Ladapo in a letter for promoting false information about the vaccine. The commissioner of the FDA and the director of the CDC wrote to Ladapo, saying that cardiovascular experts found that people who had been vaccinated had a lower risk of stroke and heart attack.
Tom Hutson says
Why do you think this quack is in his current position ? He was appointed by our Commander in Chief of the Florida Guard/Militia, State Police , Doctor and leader of the Florida Minions.
Laurel says
Where did they get this guy?
I’ve never seen, or heard, crap like this, outside of the McCarthy hearings and that stupid Imperial Wizard newsletter my friend and I confiscated off some guy’s lawn when we were 15. We are in a time now, when evidence isn’t necessary for calling someone a criminal, and when evidence is abundant it’s a witch hunt.
What I do know, though, is that my husband and I wore masks, got vaccinated, washed our hands and steered clear of crowds and so far have managed to avoid covid19 altogether.
Jim says
No data, no facts, no support from the medical community and yet Florida is saddled with a “Surgeon General” who is not committed to science and, more importantly, the health of Floridians. This is a snapshot of what is wrong with this state right now. Instead of supporting actions that benefit the citizens, we have people in positions like this that thrive on pushing false narratives and there are way too many people who believe this garbage.
I hope Bronnie James makes a complete recovery and can resume his basketball dreams. I hope Joseph Ladapo leaves his position when DeSantis goes (sooner would be better but since he’s DeSantis’ lapdog, that won’t happen) and no credible medical business will take him as an employee.
This is a disgrace.
Deborah Coffey says
These guys couldn’t get more stupid or more dangerous if they tried. Really, they’re vomitous.
Rick G says
This incompetent fool appointed by Little Ronnie needs to crawl back under the rock from which he came. There have been a number of young athletes who have experienced myocardial injury. Hank Gaethers comes to mind. A person in Ladapo’s position should be reassuring to the general public and not pushing his off kilter agenda. Talk about indoctrination…
Floridian says
This guy is a threat to public health in Florida . The guy who named him is a threat to the country and the lemmings that went along with him are a threat to decency and Florida voters..
Jimbo99 says
I was under the impression, at least State of FL Universities had required students to be vaccinated. I mean, UCF required that for new students for the Flu back in the 1990’s. All the Covid vaccine is, a Covid specific flu shot/vaccine.
“Although the university no longer requires the COVID-19 vaccine on campus, according to its website…”
The USC thing is nothing more than another NCAA athlete(s) that have some undiagnosed health issue. Athletes collapse at all levels of sports from HS to Professional. 2022, it was the NFL player that had cardiac arrest, it’s a risk of playing at that level.
Justbob says
This anti-science goofball is just another floating turd in the DeSantis legacy punchbowl.
marlee says
FLORIDA NEEDS:
MORE: Science
LESS: Fiction
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
This person was hired by the University of Florida.
Shark says
What doe you expect when he was picked by Mr. Meatball
Sweet Pea says
He’s an idiot!
DontsayRon says
Republicans make up their own “facts”. Science, history, math are all woke. remember republicans drinking your own urine is the cure for covid. Antifreeze stops it immediately. vaccines are woke and its joe biden putting a microchip inside you so he can track you and hit his raise prices button wherever you are. lol.
Ed says
How do you each know he is wrong. Hell, we walked around for nearly 2 years with paper surgical masks that we were told would help….they did not and have been debunked.
The Covid vaccine did not prevent us from getting nor transmitting Covid, oh and they told that it did keep us from getting deathly ill. It did not, many people with 3-4 vaccinations died. However, giving healthy young adults the vaccine did cause heart issues in some rare instances.
It has been widely reported that in fact 97 percent of US population has had Covid. And do you remember when they said natural immunity wasn’t acceptable or effective?
We don’t need more science, we need more truth and transparency.
Jim says
Where do you get your facts? I’m guessing Fox News. Good source of honest, ethical reporting as proven in the last presidential election….
I got every vaccine offered and I knew that if would not prevent me getting Covid. I don’t know how you missed that. It was said that if you got Covid, your chances of survival would be much improved by the vaccine. I never heard that you wouldn’t die if you did get Covid after being vaccinated. And some people did die even after being vaccinated. You might want to check on that fact, though. The number of people that died post-vaccine also is tied to people with pre-existing conditions that made them more susceptible to disease. That isn’t true for all those who died but it is true for the vast majority.
I’m sorry science is such a nuisance for you. It definitely can be an issue when “truth and transparency” conflicts with your deeply held opinions. Facts can be a bitch….
They still offer Covid vaccines and I plan on getting mine this fall along with the normal flu shot I get every year. Fortunately, since you don’t believe in vaccines, I’m encouraged that there will be more than enough for those in society who are guided by facts and SCIENCE!!!!
Ray W. says
What we need is for many more people to allow reason to lead them to its natural conclusion instead of relying of those who distort reason to fit a predetermined belief.
The moment I read that SARS-Covid2 had been classified as “novel”, I knew that all previous studies on SARS were scientifically irrelevant. A “novel” virus has to be studied and tested and then retested anew, with each new study building on previous studies. Test the hypothesis. Publish the findings, so that others may try to replicate the findings. Improve the hypothesis to take advantage of what has been learned. This takes time, sometimes a significant amount of time. All the early talk about SARS-Covid2, before any of the new studies could reliably reach a conclusion, was nothing more than people speculating and hypothesizing various theories, without benefit of the testing that is so necessary to draw reliable conclusions.
I also knew that those who lacked a full understanding of the scientific methods on which such studies are based would be the most gullible among us. Let’s start by pointing out that a significant majority of American citizens have ANTIBODIES to SARS-Covid2, either from exposure to the disease itself or from the vaccines, not just from exposure to the virus, as you assert. Indeed, the CDC recently released data establishing that, based on extrapolations from seroprevalence studies on blood given by donors, 77.5% of Americans had antibodies from SARS-Covid2 infections at the end of 2022. 96.7% of Americans had antibodies to SARS-Covid2 from either infection, vaccines, or a combination of the two. You lost that portion of your argument the moment you attributed the 97% to solely infection by the virus.
I agree with you that scientifically reliable studies now exist that establish that some people experience one or more symptoms consistent with SARS-Covid2 after receiving the vaccines.