Monday, February 26, 2024

Getting it wrong (again) in Florida: Public health vs. "parents' rights"


"Parents' rights" has become a regularly used GOP dog whistle.

HeadlineHealth News Florida, 2/23/2024
Ladapo’s move contradicts advice from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
“This is not a parental rights issue,” said Dr. Scott Rivkees, Florida’s former surgeon general who is now a professor at Brown University. “It’s about protecting fellow classmates, teachers and members of the community against measles, which is a very serious and very transmissible illness.” 
Most people who aren’t protected by a vaccine will get measles if they’re exposed to the virus. This vulnerable group includes children whose parents don’t get them vaccinated, infants too young for the vaccine, those who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons and others who don’t mount a strong, lasting immune response to it. Rivkees estimates that about a tenth of people in a community fall into the vulnerable category.

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