Exclusive — Florida Surgeon General Ladapo: ‘We Can Expect More of the Same and Worse’ if People Don’t Speak Up Against Mandates

Americans can only expect “more of the same and worse” in terms of coercive coronavirus mandates if people do not begin standing up and speaking out, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Friday.

“I really think that people do need to stand up and stand for what they believe to be true,” Florida’s surgeon general said when asked what advice he would give to Americans who are facing mandates which could potentially impact their lives and livelihoods.

“I mean, I think that unfortunately, part of the reason we’ve gotten to a place now where people who once said on the record that you couldn’t force people to take vaccine for COVID-19 are now saying the opposite thing —  that in fact not only can you, you should force people to take this vaccine — I think that … part of the reason that has happened is because enough people have not been outspoken about their rights,” Ladapo said. “So I think that these medical decisions are for people to make. I think that goes from everything from masks mandates to now these vaccinate mandates and vaccine passports.”

“And I think that if people who don’t agree that that’s the appropriate approach, policy approach, the appropriate health policy approach, to these problems, if they don’t speak up, we can expect more of the same and worse,” he predicted. “I think this is the time for people to speak up.”

Ladapo claimed that such policies have “worsened racial and ethnic disparities” but expressed his belief that the motives are “not about health.”

“It’s not about the improvement of health,” he explained before discussing the vilifying tone touted by Biden’s administration and the commander-in-chief himself, who in September warned that his patience was “wearing thin” with unvaccinated Americans.

“It promotes division, and what’s worse is that it basically demonstrates no respect for human rights and human autonomy and the right for people to make health decisions, which they really do have,” he said, explaining that some public health officials have successfully convinced Americans that “they don’t have permission to make decisions about their health.”

“And instead, they just have to agree and go along with whatever they are saying — whatever these health officials are saying — and it’s just terrible,” Ladapo told Breitbart News. “I think anyone who cares about civil liberties would have to be alarmed at the fact that they are determined to impose these one-size-fits-all health decisions on everyone.”
“Not only is it an affront to human rights, it’s also scientifically just ridiculous. The difference, for example, in mortality between children and older people from COVID is literally 1,000-fold. There’s literally — the risk is 1,000 times higher. So it’s just not sensible, and again, it’s really disrespectful and harmful to human rights and human dignity,” he added.

Ladapo’s remarks were part of a larger interview with Breitbart News on Friday, centered around the accusations lodged against Ladapo by the left, including MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who attempted to discredit Ladapo’s years of work in a lengthy segment on her show this week. Citing anonymous sources, Maddow questioned Ladapo’s career — particularly his experience working with coronavirus patients at UCLA.

“I was taking care of patients with COVID-19 when I was working in the hospital in March, and this is before the COVID-19 team treatment team was established,” he told Breitbart News, adding that he initially volunteered to be on the COVID-19 team as well, although he had to rescind the offer due to family obligations.

“I volunteered again just to help out in November [2020] specifically with COVID patients … and then when the team was dissolved, the COVID-19. Team was dissolved in January 2021, patients with COVID came to all the medical teams. So I had those patients when they came to the hospital from the emergency department,” he said. “They came directly to my team.”

“So it was strange to kind of see the story because it’s factually incorrect and certainly just seemed like an attempt to discredit someone who — like 10 years of my career has been based on my credibility, both clinically and in research, and they’re sort of trying to make people believe something else than what is actually true about me and my career,” he said of Maddow’s segment.