Trump’s surgeon general spars with Ladapo, DeSantis officials over VAERS concerns

TALLAHASEE, Fla. (FLV) – After Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo raised concerns about an increase in reports from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams sent out a report that Ladapo drew “wrong conclusions” from the data.

“FYI: Anyone can send a report into VAERS after vaccination. Some reports may be true adverse reactions, or they may be coincidental and not related to vaccination,” Adams said.

“Florida’s surgeon general draws wrong conclusions from COVID data in his vaccine warning,” he tweeted, linking to a Sun Sentinel report.

Adams was the surgeon general under former President Donald Trump, serving from Sep. 5, 2017, to Jan. 20, 2021.

The former surgeon general continued responding to Ladapo’s warning that he argued casted doubt on how “safe and effective” the COVID-19 vaccines are.

“Florida saw a 1,700% increase in adverse event reports after COVID-19 vaccinations. Does that sound safe and effective? I didn’t think so either. That’s why we released this health alert,” Ladapo said last week. “Just because ‘correlation ≠ causation’ doesn’t mean we should abandon common sense.”

“More than 670 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the US,” Adams said. “This accounts for FAR more doses of COVID-19 being given than any other vaccine. So we’d expect to see far more reports to VAERS. CDC follows up on these reports because correlation isn’t causation.”

Adams said the U.S. would “EXPECT” to see “an increase in reports” because of the the government encouraging the public to report adverse events “regardless of whether it is known if the vaccine is a cause.”

“Bottom line for the public- COVID-19 vaccines have undergone and continue to undergo the most intense vaccine safety monitoring in U.S. history! They’ve saved millions of lives, and kept millions more from getting long covid, diabetes, heart attacks, etc.”

Christina Pushaw, who served as DeSantis’ rapid response director during the 2022 campaign, disagreed with Adams: “[Ladapo] merely reported the facts and highlighted need for more transparency.”

Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary, posted a screenshot of Adams having blocked Redfern.

“*Whomp whomp noises*,” Redfern joked.

Last week, Ladapo sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that said the reporting of life-threatening conditions increased by 4,400% in Florida following the release of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Ladapo’s letter told the FDA that academic researchers throughout the U.S. and around the globe have seen “troubling safety signals of adverse events surrounding this vaccine [mRNA COVID vaccine].” He said their concerns are “corroborated” by the increase in reports from VAERS.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System is a national early warning system to detect possible safety problems in U.S. licensed vaccines and is co-managed by the CDC and FDA.

It accepts and analyzes reports of adverse events (possible side effects) after a person has received a vaccination. Anyone can report an adverse event to VAERS.

In the letter, Ladapo pointed to a recent study that he said showed mRNA vaccines were associated with an “excess risk” of serious side effects including coagulation disorders, acute cardiac injuries, Bell’s palsy and encephalitis, “to name a few.”

“To claim these vaccines are ‘safe and effective’ while minimizing and disregarding the adverse events is unconscionable,” Ladapo said.

The surgeon general told the FDA that “we need unbiased research” to better understand short and long term effects of the COVID vaccines.

Ladapo requested that the FDA promote transparency to “accurately” communicate the risks of COVID vaccines.

“As a father, physician, and Surgeon General for the state of Florida, I request that your agencies promote transparency in health care professionals to accurately communicate the risks these vaccines pose. I request that you work to protect the rights and liberties that we are endowed with, not restrict, and diminish them,” Ladapo said.