The Florida surgeon general who said COVID-19 vaccines are the “anti-Christ” is gaining steam to be Donald Trump’s pick to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Florida’s Joseph Ladapo was HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s initial choice for the CDC gig in November, ABC News reported at the time, and he is now backed by top Trump allies and being discussed by the White House as a possible appointment again.
Trump’s first choice for the role was ex-GOP Rep. Dave Weldon. But Weldon, another Florida doctor and vaccine skeptic, had his appointment abruptly killed on March 13 after Kennedy said he did not have the votes to be confirmed.
That Trump Administration flub now has those inside the White House saying they must “get it right” with their next CDC pick, CBS News reported. Both Weldon and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said they hope Trump chooses Ladapo for the role.
Ladapo, 46, has been Florida’s top medical advisor since 2021 and has regularly stirred up controversy.
That included him calling mRNA COVID-19 vaccines the “anti-Christ” last year in an interview with the MAGA commentator Steve Bannon, who openly admits he is trying to find a way for Trump to be eligible to serve a third White House term.
Ladapo, a Harvard medical graduate, called for a halt to administering COVID-19 vaccines at the same time, citing a discredited theory the jabs contaminate human DNA.
“I think it probably does have some integration at some levels with the human genome,” Ladapo told Bannon, “because these vaccines are honestly—they’re the Antichrist of all products. So I think it probably does. But I’m not saying it does.”
More recently, Ladapo has been calling on local governments in Florida to stop adding fluoride to drinking water, claiming it is “public health malpractice” because one study suggested it may lead to lower IQ in children and higher ADHD levels. This, he determined, outweighs the scientifically-backed dental health benefits of fluoride.
Those comments were condemned by medical professionals nationwide, with the American Dental Association calling Ladapo’s guidance “misinformed and dangerous.”
Ladapo was also criticized for his handling of a measles outbreak in Florida last year—an issue that is likely top of mind for Americans as similar outbreaks continue to pop up across the country and even killed a child in Texas.
Amid an outbreak in Florida last year, Ladapo did not push for vaccination against measles and advised it should be up to parents to decide whether they keep their unvaccinated kids home or not if there was a confirmed outbreak at school—advice in direct conflict with CDC guidance.
Skepticism of the medical community is how Ladapo rose to fame amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Back then, he wrote opinion articles for the Wall Street Journal that decried public health measures such as masking and lockdowns, and caught the eye of DeSantis—a governor who had made Florida lax on COVID-19 lockdowns compared to most of the country.
Ladapo even touted hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 cure against research that determined otherwise. He grabbed national headlines in 2021 for refusing a state lawmaker’s request to wear a mask in a meeting. She had breast cancer, making her more susceptible to the virus.
This sort of medical community skepticism aligns Ladapo with Kennedy, who is the face of the Make America Healthy Again movement. They even share similar social media strategies, with both men regularly share clips of them working out and promoting healthy eating. Ladapo posted a clip of himself running on a treadmill in February on the same week he shared a recipe for a “healthy meal” of stuffed peppers.
CBS News reports Ladapo is not the only serious contender for the CDC gig, however, with former GOP Rep. Michael Burgess also in the running. The 74-year-old Texan is a former obstetrician and gynecologist, and he used to lead the House’s doctors caucus before retiring from Congress.
