Ladapo opposes COVID-19 shots for young children

In this file photo, Rae Austin, the ORMC Pharmacy Operations Manager, draws the COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe as she prepares the vaccinations for health professional at Ocala Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. Ocala Health received 3,000 Moderna COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday. They plan to dispense the vaccines at Ocala Regional and West Marion Community Hospital. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.

As the federal Food and Drug Administration weighs approval of COVID-19 vaccinations for children under age 5, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is opposed to the potential change.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is slated to meet Wednesday to discuss amending emergency-use authorizations for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children as young as 6 months old. Ladapo, who has long criticized vaccination requirements for adults, said Tuesday he would not support vaccinating young children against the coronavirus.

“From what I have seen, there is just insufficient data to inform benefits and risk in children. I think that’s very unequivocal,” Ladapo told reporters in Tallahassee. The surgeon general, who also is secretary of the state Department of Health, said his opinion on vaccinating infants and young children is “consistent” with the department’s other guidance on vaccines.

“We expect to have good data that the benefits outweigh the risks of any therapies or treatments before we recommend those therapies or treatments to Floridians. That is not going to change. I don’t think that is particularly radical. I think it’s very sensible,” Ladapo said.