Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced Monday at a roundtable of U.S.-based physicians, entitled “The Curtain Close On COVID Theater,” that the state's health department would issue a recommendation against healthy kids getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ladapo clarified that a lack of trust in government policy was because federal, state, and local governments and organizations have not updated their guidance in line with science and evidence. He claimed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent and rather drastic change in policy is evidence of that.

The guidance coming from Ladapo directly contradicts the CDC, which has been wanting to get more children vaccinated in recent weeks as more vaccines get approved. Science agrees that vaccination reduces the risk of severe illness, even in children.

“CDC recommends everyone ages 5 years and older gets a COVID-19 vaccine to help protect against COVID-19,” the CDC’s website reads.

Towards the end of the roundtable, Ladapo indicated that Florida “is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis sat beside Ladapo as he made the announcement. DeSantis recently faced backlash for chastising students who were wearing masks.

When asked about the decision, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said “we know the science. We know the data and what works and what the most effective steps are in protecting people of a range of ages from hospitalization and even death.”

“The FDA and CDC have already weighed in on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for those 5 and older,” she added, according to The Hill.

DeSantis said at the event that throughout the pandemic there continued to be “a failure to weigh costs and benefits, whether that’s lockdowns, whether that’s school closures, or whether that's even something about whether a healthy 7-year-old kid should get the COVID vaccines.”

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