Ron DeSantis hired an anti-vaxxer, and now Florida kids are paying the cost

As a kind of ultimate middle finger to science, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis named a vaccine denier as Florida’s new surgeon general in the middle of the pandemic. Dr. Joseph Ladapo backed DeSantis in refusing vaccine mandates, then went on to spread misinformation about vaccines, alter key findings in a study so as to falsely inflate the risk of vaccines, and refuse to wear a mask even when visiting a state senator being treated for breast cancer. Florida’s right-wing legislature loved it.

Ladapo’s war on facts hasn’t slowed. Last month, Ladapo cited debunked conspiracy theories while calling for a halt to some of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines. Despite researchers’ attempts to convince him to stop spreading his fact-free fantasies, Ladapo continues to be a star in the anti-vaccine, anti-science community.

Now he’s taking his celebrity status to a whole new disease. Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but with falling vaccination rates, this debilitating disease, which killed hundreds of children each year before a national campaign of vaccination, is making a comeback. As of early Friday, six cases of measles have been linked to an elementary school in Florida. And in the face of this potential crisis, Ladapo is sending out advice that is a direct threat to Florida’s kids.