The Florida Department of Health, also called Florida Health, is a department of the Government of Florida responsible for administering public health services in the state. It is headquartered in Talahassee, Florida.
History
On February 15, 2023, the department published a safety alert from the State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo warning of “a novel increase” in adverse event reports related to mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. The statement noted that, “[i]n Florida alone, there was a 1,700% increase in [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)] reports after the release of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to an increase of 400% in overall vaccine administration for the same time period.”[1]
On May 10, 2023, Ladapo wrote to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky, criticizing their agencies' lack of transparency surrounding the development of COVID-19 vaccines and lack of public disclosure of the true rate of adverse events suffered as a result.[2]
External links
Communications Office. (2023, February 15). Health Alert on mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Safety. Florida Department of Health. https://web.archive.org/web/20230216173659/https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2023/02/20230215-updated-health-alert.pr.html ↩︎
Ladapo, J. A. (2023, May 10). Letter to Robert Califf and Rochelle Walensky. Florida Department of Health. https://web.archive.org/web/20230701182730/https://www.floridahealth.gov/_documents/newsroom/press-releases/2023/05/20230510-florida-department-of-health-letter-to-fda-and-cdc.pdf ↩︎
