WESTON, FLA. (WSVN) - - Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo defended his department’s response on the recent measles outbreak at a South Florida elementary school.
Ladapo sent out a letter from the Florida Department of Health that said parents had the choice to decide whether their child went to school if they were not vaccinated with the measles vaccine once cases began to spread.
While the letter drew the ire of some critics, Ladapo told 7News it was the right approach.
“It was the right thing to do,” said Ladapo in an interview with 7News as he defended his department’s response to the measles outbreak at Weston’s Manatee Bay Elementary School last month.
The school saw seven cases, while Broward saw two other cases elsewhere in the county.
“There’s nothing I would’ve done differently,” said Ladapo.
Due to the high infection rate, school officials offered at-home learning for 21 days.
According to the school, 33 of its more than 1,000 students at the school are unvaccinated.
Health experts said people who have been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella are 98% protected.
“Fortunately, it’s a vaccine that has high efficacy for protecting people. That was part of the reason that I thought it was a totally reasonable strategy to allow parents of kids who didn’t have a history of prior measles or prior MMR vaccination to decide whether they want to bring their kids to school,” said Ladapo.
The letter, which resulted in some Democratic lawmakers to call for Ladapo’s resignation, called on parents to make a decision on whether or not their unvaccinated kids go to school.
In his letter, Ladapo wrote:
Up to 90% of individuals without immunity will contract measles if exposed. It is normally recommended that children stay home until the end of the infectious period. However, due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational cost of healthy children missing school, [the state health department] is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said the state should have made it mandatory for unvaccinated students to stay home.
“There are challenges to home learning, but certainly the grave risk that exists of a child who is unvaccinated from contracting measles is far more risky,” she said.
“And now, somehow we feel we can treat it casually. That’s a mistake,” said Dr. Paul Offit from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The Surgeon General dismissed his critics, saying that the state’s strategy at Manatee Bay worked and that getting rid of measles completely is unrealistic.
The Centers for Disease Control declared measles eliminated back in 2000. So far, 16 states have reported measles cases this year.
“The idea that measles is a virus that we should pursue some eradication strategy is not a very wise public health idea,” said Ladapo.
Despite the high protection rate of the vaccine, which was introduced in the early 1970s, Ladapo demurred on whether he would recommend it. Instead, he said parents should look at the data and make the decision that is in their best interest.
“Here’s the data that we have, and this is what I know, and I would invite them to make the decision that they felt was in the best interest of their priorities, their preferences, what they want for their families,” said Ladapo. “Our health care system in the United States is not oriented, it’s not designed, it doesn’t thrive on health. It thrives on illness, and it thrives on profit.”
Ladapo said sometimes people focus on health outcomes too much.
“I think sometimes there’s too much focus on the outcome, and unfortunately…” said Ladapo.
“But if you’re a mom or dad, isn’t that what you care about? ‘Whether or not my kid gets measles?'” asked 7News reporter Nicole Linsalata.
“You certainty have a right to care about that, but some parents also care about how we get there,” said Ladapo. “I think people can look at what we did and why we did it, and hopefully they’ll understand.”
School data shows that many parents did choose to keep their kids home as the cases increased in the school. On some days, more than 100 kids stayed home.
The Florida Department of Health said their investigation on how the measles outbreak began at the school is ongoing.
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