‘Parental rights’ a pathetic response to Florida’s measles outbreak | Editorial

Where’s the clarity in the Florida Department of Health response to the state’s measles outbreak? It certainly wasn’t in its muddled equivocation of a Feb. 20th advisory to Broward County parents that careened between acknowledging what “is normally recommended” and deferring any decision regarding school attendance to the parents. It’s as if Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s top health official and noted anti-vaxxer, just couldn’t help himself.

“Because of the high likelihood of infection, it is normally recommended that children stay home until the end of the infectious period …,” the letter to Manatee Elementary School parents in Weston read. “However, due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational cost of healthy children missing school, the Department of Health is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”

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Parental rights is one thing; responding to a dangerous public health crisis is a different matter entirely. Measles is a highly contagious virus that is potentially dangerous for babies and children under 5. The virus spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, making schools a petri dish for the virus. There were 10 cases in Florida as of Monday, making Florida the nation’s hotspot for measles.

The likelihood is that that number will grow as the virus spreads.

Unfortunately, the state’s initial response leaves many to wonder if the good doctor’s opposition to vaccinations will get people killed. Some think it already has. More than 81,000 Floridians died of COVID-19 as Ladapo used his position as surgeon general and the power of state bureaucracy to oppose federally-approved vaccines.

Ambiguity isn’t the typical response to a potential public health crisis. Under normal circumstances, public health officials would follow federal guidelines in urging unvaccinated children to either get a MMR shot or stay at home until any symptoms have subside without medication — period, full stop, end of story. If the department wants to curb the spread of measles, it must stop its anti-vax pandering and take the outbreak much more seriously.