Florida surgeon general calls for halt in the use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines – NBC 6 South Florida
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is urging residents in the Sunshine State to stop getting the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID vaccines over DNA-related safety concerns.
Over time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reiterated that its research shows the vaccines are safe and outweigh the health risks associated with COVID.
But Ladapo’s call for a halt in vaccination comes weeks after he issued a letter to the FDA last month, which questioned the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and whether the mRNA shots could possibly deliver DNA contaminants into human cells.
“These vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings,” said Ladapo in a statement released by the Florida Department of Health.
On December 14, the FDA provided a written response where the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Peter Marks, reported that a DNA virus was not present in the shots and that studies did not find “genotoxicity from the vaccine.”
Ladapo raised his concerns again Wednesday, saying that the “FDA’s response does not provide data or evidence that the DNA integration assessments they recommended themselves have been performed,” and that the integration poses a “unique and elevated risk to human health.”
In his letter, Marks said the 2007 FDA guidance Ladapo referred to was developed for “DNA vaccines themselves, not for DNA as a contaminant in other vaccines and is not applicable to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines,” and that it’s quite implausible” that any residual DNA fragments from the COVID vaccines could find its way into a cell’s nucleus and “be incorporated into chromosomal DNA.”
He also said that reproductive toxicology studies found “no concerns” with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and that global surveillance data on more than 1 billion doses of vaccines administered show “nothing to indicate harm to the genome.”
The FDA doubled down and said that they wanted “to make clear that based on a thorough assessment of the entire manufacturing process, FDA is confident in the quality, safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.”
Ladapo, however, doesn’t think the FDA has properly assessed the vaccines.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says that the shots are safe and effective and is recommending the vaccines for everyone 6 months and older.
But Florida’s surgeon general does not suggest people under 65 get the vaccine and recommends they speak to their doctor before getting the shot.
The CDC estimates that about 11% of adults and about 6% of kids in Florida have received the new shots.
