{"id":1386121,"date":"2022-03-17T11:32:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T15:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1386121"},"modified":"2022-03-17T11:36:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T15:36:00","slug":"desantis-defends-floridas-new-guidance-on-covid-vax-for-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-defends-floridas-new-guidance-on-covid-vax-for-children\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis Defends Florida\u2019s New Guidance on COVID Vax for Children"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdesantis-defends-floridas-new-guidance-on-covid-vax-for-children%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1386121&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-florida\">Florida<\/a> is leading the way on rational guidance regarding the risks and benefits for children and COVID-19 vaccines, Gov. Ron DeSantis said on March 16 as he defended the state\u2019s new guidance.<\/p>\n<p>Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a DeSantis appointee, on March 8 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/covid-19-vaccine-risks-may-outweigh-benefits-for-healthy-children-new-florida-guidance_4324478.html\">issued the guidance for parents<\/a>, asserting that the risks to their child from getting a jab may outweigh the benefits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on currently available data, healthy children aged 5 to 17 may not benefit from receiving the currently available COVID-19 vaccine. The department recommends that children with underlying conditions are the best candidates for the COVID-19 vaccine,\u201d the guidance states.<\/p>\n<p>Ladapo \u201cis leading on this,\u201d DeSantis told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Hialeah on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I think his view\u2014and I agree with it\u2014is the burden of proof is on the people that say you should get a 5-year-old kid vaccinated for COVID, okay? And they have to carry that burden. It\u2019s not the burden for a parent to \u2026 prove why you shouldn\u2019t do it. And if you look at the clinical trial, for example, with the Pfizer [shot] for the 5- to 11-[year-olds], there was no severe COVID in the vaccine arm, but there was also a no severe COVID in the placebo arm,\u201d DeSantis added.<\/p>\n<p>The low risk that COVID-19 poses to healthy children and the elevated risk of heart inflammation, particularly for young men, from the vaccine led to the guidance, the Republican said, noting that parents are still free to get healthy kids vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat he wanted to do was just say, \u2018Hey, here\u2019s the recommendation, you\u2019re free to do what you want as a parent.\u2019 But I think a lot of parents were feeling pressured to do it, even though they didn\u2019t necessarily think that was the right thing to do. And so in Florida, we\u2019re a free state, you can make those decisions,\u201d the governor said, drawing applause from attendees.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis was holding an event announcing funding for Florida\u2019s educational programs.<\/p>\n<p>Ladapo, a former professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, announced during an event <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/florida-to-become-first-state-to-recommend-against-covid-19-vaccines-for-healthy-children_4321865.html\">in early March<\/a> that he would soon \u201crecommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children.\u201d The state\u2019s guidance doesn\u2019t go that far, but has drawn outcry because it goes against advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which continues to say that all children, save for those with a small number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/hcp\/admin\/screening.html\">contraindications<\/a>, should get one of the vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida guidance cites, among other sources,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/nejmoa2116298\">trial data<\/a> from Pfizer that Ladapo says shows healthy children with no underlying conditions have a \u201climited risk of severe illness due to COVID-19\u201d;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19serohub.nih.gov\/\">data<\/a> collected by the CDC indicating a majority of children in the country have recovered from COVID-19; an \u201cabsence of data informing benefit of COVID-19 vaccination among children with existing immunity\u201d; and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-less-effective-in-children-5-to-11-study_4307389.html\">recent study<\/a> from New York researchers that indicates Pfizer\u2019s vaccine protection has \u201cdeclined rapidly,\u201d particularly against infection.<\/p>\n<p>Underlying conditions include\u00a0chronic lung disease, obesity, and neurologic disorders.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the guidance,\u00a0Kathryn Edwards, a professor in pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told The Epoch Times in an email that she disagrees with the state guidance and believes \u201call children between 5-11 years old should be vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe risk of disease is greater than the risk of myocarditis,\u201d she said, referring to a form of heart inflammation that has been reported in higher-than-expected rates in youth, especially young men.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not a universal view.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4342747\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/16\/pfizer-vaccine-with-orange-cap-1200x965.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4342747\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/16\/pfizer-vaccine-with-orange-cap-1200x965.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"515\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Miami, Fla., in a file image. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important for parents to understand that the risk of hospitalization, particularly in a healthy child or adolescent, is very low. And also, the risk of myocarditis following administration of the messenger RNA vaccines is also very low, and effectively, probably pretty similar. So the benefit roughly equals the risk of harm,\u201d Dr. Cody Meissner, one of the Food and Drug Administration advisers who voted in 2021 to recommend authorization of Pfizer\u2019s shot for the 5 to 11 age group, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/trio-of-new-studies-revives-questions-about-covid-19-vaccines-for-young-children_4316548.html\">told The Epoch Times<\/a> after reviewing some of the more recent papers.<\/p>\n<p>Pfizer\u2019s vaccine, the only one available to those under 18 in the United States, is built on messenger RNA technology.<\/p>\n<p>Under DeSantis, Florida\u2019s approach to the pandemic, besides a short period of harsh restrictions mirroring much of the rest of the country, has been one that focuses on protecting the vulnerable while keeping government rules to a minimum.<\/p>\n<p>Florida, for instance, banned vaccine passports in 2021. Many jurisdictions that kept vaccine passports and mask mandates have rolled them back in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what you\u2019ll see increasingly, over the next year, is you will see more and more people come out and say, probably if you have a healthy 5- or 6-year-old kid, you probably don\u2019t need to be doing [the vaccine],\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n<p>Meissner and other members of the\u00a0Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/fda-adviser-explains-why-he-abstained-from-vote-on-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-for-young-children_4074913.html\">except for one<\/a>, were supportive of authorizing the jab for 5- to 11-year-olds but before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/fda-panel-recommends-authorization-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-for-children-5-11_4070285.html\">they voted<\/a> to advise the Food and Drug Administration, multiple members expressed concern about vaccine mandates, noting the lack of data supporting vaccinating kids without comorbidities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActually, if you look at [that], most of those people that were contributing to that were saying, \u2018I\u2019m torn on this, because I feel if we approve it for 5- to 11-year-olds, it may be mandated in schools. And we think that\u2019s a bad idea. We think for high-risk kids, we want to make it available,&#8217;\u201d De Santis said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I think just in the next six to 12 months, you\u2019ll see more people move in his direction, and I think that\u2019s just the reality. And so, because you have this thing where people are saying you\u2019re not a good parent unless you do the COVID [shot] for very young kids, that\u2019s just not true. It really is your choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust understand what the data shows,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can say that the data has shown certainly a huge benefit. At best, you\u2019re looking at maybe marginal risks that may outweigh that. That\u2019s just the reality. And people can make those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida is leading the way on rational guidance regarding the risks and benefits for children and COVID-19 vaccines, Gov. Ron DeSantis said on March 16 as he defended the state\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1386121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1386121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1386121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1386121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1386121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}