Following measles case, Florida surgeon general insists vaccine is up to parents

Once again, Florida Surgeon General Jospeh Ladapo is emphasizing parents’ rights to send their kids to school unvaccinated amid a report Tuesday of a measles case in a Miami-Dade County high school.

Ladapo insisted during a press conference in Tampa that his approach this time would be the same as last year, when a Broward County elementary school saw nine cases of measles. (However, Ladapo mistakenly said the cases emerged in Brevard County.)

“Many people had sort of a cerebral event when we said that if a kid is healthy, whether that kid is vaccinated or not, as long as the kid is healthy, that kid can go to school. It’s up to the parents,” Ladapo said.

The surgeon general said vaccines are available for parents who want them and recommended Vitamin A as an option to treat someone severely ill with the virus he labeled as one of the most contagious in existence. Both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend vitamin A for children infected with the virus.

“Let me just pull out my crystal ball here. No, I don’t know how many more cases there are going to be,” he said. “I say that because measles is extremely contagious. I mean it’s probably one of the most contagious viruses in existence.”

Meanwhile, Texas is dealing with the largest measles outbreak in 30 years, which has killed an unvaccinated child and led to at least 158 cases, according to the Texas Tribune, a publishing partner of Florida Phoenix.

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