A Medical Fool’s Carnival

 

A recent newspaper article contains the alarming story of Florida governor and Trump wannabee, Ron de Santis, declaring that it is his desire and intent (and he is encouraged in this by the  surgeon general of the state of Florida) to discontinue all mandates for vaccinations as a criterion for entering public schools in the state.

De Santis refers to, and summarily dismisses, strong cautionary disagreements from legitimate medical authorities on all levels, local, state, and federal, as “unsubstantiated.”  His toady State Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has also ignited a firestorm with recent comments and a policy push to eliminate all vaccine mandates statewide, including those for beginning schoolchildren. At a press conference on September 3, 2025, Ladapo emphasized personal autonomy over public health mandates, stating: “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” (yep, keeping kids alive is slavery?)  He continued, “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God.” Contemplating the potential ramifications of this type of thinking make my head hurt. That said, and as stated above, our illustrious governor is on board.

Ladapo has a well-documented history of diametrical differences between himself and the rest of the responsible medical community. He came to prominence in Florida for his opposition to COVID-19 mitigation measures, and promotion and furtherance of COVID-19 misinformation, for which he has been rebuked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has a history of promoting unproven treatments, opposing vaccine and mask mandates, questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and contradicting professional medical organizations. All this is with absolutely zero scientific justification. He joined De Santos in supporting monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID 19 up to the point where the drug’s manufacturer, a DeSantis contributor, finally admitted that their therapy didn’t work. Incidentally, Ladapo has also opposed gender affirming care and counseling for trans and non-binary minors.

        So, what then do the actual statistics say about mandatory vaccination? Let’s preface this with the statement that no valid study has ever shown an actual link between vaccines and Autism. Period. What follows will be an analysis of the effects of measles vaccine on what was once an annual epidemic in the US.

Historical Timeline of Measles in the U.S.

Pre-Vaccine Era

•       1765: First recorded measles case in the U.S.

•       Early 1900s: Measles killed ~6,000 Americans annually

•       1950s–1960s: Annual cases averaged 500,000+, with 48,000 hospitalizations and 400–500 deaths

 Vaccine Breakthrough

•       1963: Measles vaccine licensed—rapid and dramatic drop in cases

•       1978: CDC recommends two doses of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) for full protection.

Elimination & Resurgence

•       2000: CDC declares measles eliminated in the U.S.—no continuous transmission for over a year Yes, it works!

•       2014: 667 cases reported, mostly linked to unvaccinated communities. This coincides with the birth of the anti-vax movement, which was a conglomerate of anti-government, anti-science, deep state conspiracy, etc. movements in states such as California, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, and a few others which allowed “personal exemptions” for mandatory vaccines. California reversed course in 2015 and saw a step change drop in childhood communicable diseases, and in COVID cases later, (explanation below).

•       2019: 1,282 cases—the highest since 1992—sparked by outbreaks in New York and Washington among primarily unvaccinated individuals.

•       2024: only 285 confirmed cases across 16 outbreaks

•       2025 (as of August): 1,408 confirmed cases, 35 outbreaks, and 3 deaths reported across 43 states

•       86% of cases are outbreak-associated

•       Vast majority are among unvaccinated individuals

The trend and number of cases track similarly for Mumps. For Rubella, the same is true, but even more critical in some ways, in that Rubella can also, if transmitted to a pregnant individual, cause serious and disabling birth defects in the newborn. Rubella was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2004, but cases still pop up due to international travel and vaccine gaps.

All this of course implies that measles can become an unwanted gift. Susie ‘s mom is an anti-vaxxer, Susie goes to school and contracts measles, comes home, hugs grandma who may never have had the vaccine or has far less resistance. Grandma gets very ill as a result. The same was true in the COVID epidemic. Children, who had been vaccinated may have had contact with the virus and were contagious but essentially asymptomatic because their recent MMR vaccines also supplied some resistance to COVID (verified in a Harvard study). Adults at home with less resistance and less recency of MMR vaccination, or even none, contracted COVID from their apparently healthy children.

The same government which can require you to have a driver’s license and insurance should certainly have the right to require parents to have their children vaccinated as a measure to insure their health by insuring they are protected against known and potentially fatal diseases which thrive in close circumstances such as a schoolroom.

Dr Ladapo immigrated with his family from Nigeria when he was five years old. At that time (1983) Nigeria had no vaccine mandates and consequently had periodic outbreaks of contagious diseases. Oddly enough in that same year, Nigeria initiated the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). It was a major operational research project, launched in August 1983, aiming to dramatically increase vaccine coverage. It wasn’t yet a legal mandate, but it was a government-led push with strong community involvement and outreach. The project ran until July 1984 and boosted coverage from 9% to 83% in targeted areas. Now Nigeria does have vaccine mandates, particularly for childhood immunizations. In December 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria also implemented a compulsory vaccination policy for all public sector employees. Workers had to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative PCR test within 72 hours to access their offices., Nigeria requires routine vaccinations for children, and these mandates are enforced especially for school entry. I point his out only to show the retrograde thinking of Dr Ladapo compared to his African homeland.

Between Dr. Ladapo’s lamentable religious philosophical flummery and DeSantis’ politically driven grandstanding, Florida has the potential to regress to the 1950s as far as public health essentials are concerned. Remember Polio? If you’re my age you do since we were kept indoors when the too frequent local cases occurred. Likewise, community pools closed.

 Drs. Salk and Sabin wiped out Polio as a threat via vaccines. Vaccines save lives. imbeciles like Ladapo and DeSantis threaten them. Amen.

    No matter what it takes, vote in the midterms. Also take the time to encourage your Congressional Representatives to push for election day to become a national holiday.