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Surgeon General Ladapo, and the Anti-Booster Gestapo [1]

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Date: 2023-10-06  

This week the Florida Surgeon General said he is “very uncomfortable recommending the new Covid-19 vaccine to anyone” as it’s “anti-human.”

Anti-human.

Wow. That is breathtaking. Especially coming from a medical doctor who is at the pinnacle of the health policy apparatus of Florida, a state with a not insignificant number of high risk elderly individuals who stand to benefit the most from boosters — the ones they receive, and the ones their community receives as well.

Boosters are optional. I’m not here to argue everyone needs one. But what is on display with Dr. Ladapo’s remarks is that political impulse to vilify, sensationalize, and indeed dehumanize anyone with opposing views. Even when those views are altruistic, informed by science, and are simultaneously community-minded and self-protecting. Especially when.

The CDC and ACIP approved these new boosters because potential benefits outweigh risks.

Long term effects of Covid illness are much scarier than a few spike proteins floating around after receiving a booster.

With Covid infections I fear what’s going on beneath the surface. Coronary artery invasion, central and autonomic nervous system invasion, pulmonary and endothelial damage, and the development of post Covid conditions.

I’m “pro-human” and therefore I’m getting my XBB booster today, and so is my daughter. I expect it will reduce our chances of getting infected for a while, and every time we don’t contract Covid is a pair of dice left unrolled. I expect the boost will help reduce long Covid and collateral damage like previous vaccinations have when I do get infected.

I’m not worried about hospitalization and death for my age group. But there is a lot of badness along a continuum that ends in death, and bolstering my defenses like an annual flu shot is what I’m talking about.

I’m very grateful, really.

And so don’t listen to surgeons general who talk about mainstream interventions and public health in terms that are dehumanizing, and indeed harmful. In Florida he should be watching out for alligators, hurricanes, rising sea levels, the collapse of local ecosystems and Atlantic Ocean currents. Within 10 years he is probably going to need to recommend a malaria vaccine as that disease becomes endemic again in Florida. I’m just a family doctor in Philadelphia, I write about primary care ideas on Substack if you want more like this, but I think I’m giving better advice here than the Surgeon General of Florida today. Would you agree?

Good luck, and leave the political baggage out of any decision you make about getting a booster right now.

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