Florida's Department of Health will recommend against coronavirus vaccination for "healthy children," the state's surgeon general said Monday, contradicting the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other experts.
Florida "is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children," state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo said at the end of a roundtable discussion on the virus response.
Ladapo did not provide details such as who would qualify as a healthy child, or go into the reasoning for his decision.
The move is an escalation in the divide of Florida's pandemic response under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) from that of national experts.
From the experts: The CDC recommends that everyone aged 5 and older get the coronavirus vaccine. Existing vaccines are not yet approved for those younger than 5.
While COVID-19 is generally worse in older age groups, the CDC noted that as of mid-October 2021, there were "more than 8,300 COVID-19 related hospitalizations and nearly 100 deaths from COVID-19" among children 5-11, and the coronavirus is one of the top 10 causes of death in that age group.
Getting the vaccine helps prevent children from getting seriously ill with the virus if they do contract it and also protects people of other ages in the surrounding community, the CDC noted.
"Before recommending COVID-19 vaccination for children, scientists conducted clinical trials with thousands of children and no serious safety concerns were identified," the CDC adds.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that children get vaccinated.
Biden administration blasts the move: White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday called it "deeply disturbing" for the Florida Department of Health to advise against vaccinating "healthy children" against COVID-19.
"Absolutely not," Psaki said when asked if the Florida recommendation was a good policy. "Let me just note that we know the science. We know the data and what works and what the most effective steps are in protecting people of a range of ages from hospitalization and even death. The FDA [Food and Drug Administration] and CDC have already weighed in on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for those 5 and older."
"We also know through the data that unvaccinated teenagers are three times as likely to be hospitalized if they get COVID than vaccinated teenagers," Psaki continued. "So it's deeply disturbing that there are politicians peddling conspiracy theories out there and casting doubt on vaccinations when it is our best tool against the virus and the best tool to prevent even teenagers from being hospitalized."
Long-running disputes: Psaki has previously criticized DeSantis for his rejection of ventilators from the federal government, his embrace of antibody therapies that have not proved to be effective against the omicron variant and his opposition to masking children while in school.
