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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Taps Anti-Mask Vaccine Skeptic as Surgeon General

HeadlineSep 23, 2021

In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed an anti-mask vaccine skeptic as his new surgeon general. As one of his first official acts, Dr. Joseph Ladapo issued an emergency order allowing parents to opt children out of quarantine if they’ve had close contact at school with someone infected with the coronavirus. Ladapo is a proponent of the widely discredited theory of achieving herd immunity through natural infection, which Dr. Anthony Fauci has called “nonsense and very dangerous.” He’s previously appeared at public events with Dr. Stella Immanuel, an evangelical Christian and conspiracy theorist who has suggested alien DNA was used in pharmaceuticals and that gynecological problems are caused by sexual visitations by demons.

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