Florida’s controversial surgeon general is drawing criticism for his handling of an elementary school’s measles outbreak, telling parents of unvaccinated children it is their choice whether their student attends class.

Florida’s controversial surgeon general is drawing criticism for his handling of an elementary school’s measles outbreak, telling parents of unvaccinated children it is their choice whether their students attend class — a contravention of federal guidelines calling for their mandatory exclusion.

Dr. Joseph Ladapo, nationally known for his outspoken skepticism toward the COVID-19 vaccine, sent a letter this week to parents at Manatee Bay Elementary School near Fort Lauderdale after six students contracted the highly contagious and potentially deadly virus. Such outbreaks are rare in the United States, though reported cases have spiked from 58 for all of 2023 to 35 already this year.

The letter notes that when a school has a measles outbreak, it is “normally recommended” that unvaccinated students who haven’t previously had the disease be kept home for three weeks “because of the high likelihood” they will be infected.

    • minibyte@sh.itjust.works
      848·
      8 months ago

      I don’t see the issue here. People that don’t vaccinate their kids seem to have plenty to spare.

      • RegalPotoo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        90·
        8 months ago
        • kids don’t have a choice, the state has an obligation to protect them from harms even if their parents willfully put them at risk
        • Vaccines aren’t 100% effective, a certain number of children will catch the disease even if vaccinated
        • Vaccines aren’t available to everyone
        • Greater spread encourages more mutation, leading to more dangerous variants

        Sounds familiar right.

        Remember all those siblings and extended family members who died of smallpox when you were younger? No? That’s because we drove smallpox to the edge of extinction through aggressive vaccination campaigns over decades. We almost managed to do the same with measles until these chucklefucks ruined it for cheap political points, and now 136,000 people died from it last year

        • minibyte@sh.itjust.works
          48·
          8 months ago

          We almost managed to do the same with measles until these chucklefucks ruined it for cheap political points, and now 136,000 people died from it last year

          That was my initial thought, but didn’t think through the previous points you made. Thank you for the quality reply. I retract my statement and admit my ignorance.

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
          25·
          8 months ago

          Thankfully I don’t live in Florida, but this is basically allowing parents to expose other people’s children to diseases against another parent’s knowledge or consent.

          Parents’ rights insomuch as they win political points.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.worldEnglish
        24·
        8 months ago

        SIGH

        Since we apparently didn’t learn this lesson from COVID…

        There are people out there with compromised immune systems that can’t get vaccinations. And so now they are fucked.