Florida’s Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, warned that there was “no evidence” of the upcoming COVID-19 vaccines being safe for human beings and suggested that people may be better off not getting these new jabs.
“We all know there’s a new vaccine that’s coming around the corner, [a]new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. And there’s essentially no evidence ‘for it. There’s been no clinical trial done in human beings showing that it benefits people, there’s been no clinical trial showing that it is a safe product for people. And not only that, but then there are a lot of red flags,” Dr. Ladapo said on Thursday during a news conference with Governor Ron DeSantis.
It is unclear which vaccine Dr. Ladapo was referring to. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine will be made available beginning mid-September.
Both Moderna and Pfizer are developing vaccines for multiple COVID-19 variants. Pfizer recently claimed that its updated vaccine provided protection against the BA.2.86 strain and other fast-spreading variants in a trial conducted on animals. Moderna’s vaccine targeting BA.2.86 already conducted trials in humans. Both firms are also planning to roll out new vaccines targeting the Omicron strain XBB.1.5.
At the press conference, Dr. Ladapo pointed out some of the safety concerns about mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and indicated that people should not take the new vaccines if they do not feel confident in its effects.
“So something that you don’t hear much about … there are multiple studies now from around the world, Brazil, Australia, United States that show that over time these vaccines, these mRNA COVID-19 products actually increase your chances of contracting COVID-19.”
“That’s not normal and unfortunately, you’re going to have people who are going to get on television and try to explain why you should be comfortable with taking a product that ultimately, like its predecessors, increases your chance of contracting something.”
Dr. Ladapo asked people to make decisions based on their “resonance of truth” rather than depending on “very educated people telling you what you should think.”
“When they try to convince you to be comfortable and agree with things that don’t feel comfortable and don’t feel like things you should agree with, that’s a sign … And I encourage you and certainly beg and hope that you do listen to it because it will serve you right.”
The infection rate among the group which received the bivalent booster shots came in at 3.2 percent—higher than the 2.7 percent among the unvaccinated.