On April 24, 2023, Politico reported that Florida Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo edited a state-funded study on the risks of the COVID-19 vaccine. The altered study reports that the “mRNA vaccination may be driving the increased risk in males, especially among males aged 18-39,” and that “the risk associated with mRNA vaccination should be weighed against the risk associated with COVID-19 infection.” Ladapo’s statements stand in contrast to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics.
Because his assertions were so out of line with scientific consensus, many prominent researchers criticized Ladapo’s changes. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, noted that Ladapo “took out stuff that didn’t support his position,” a move he called “troubling.”
The altered study aligned closely with the anti-vaccine positions of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and Ladapo drew additional criticism over his close affiliation with America’s Frontline Doctors, an organization opposed to COVID-19 restrictions. Matt Hitchings, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida stated with certainty that “there was a political motivation behind the final analysis that was produced.” In an interview with Politico, Ladapo denied any accusations of politically motivated scientific fraud, calling the criticisms “factually false.”