Something's fishy about Florida muzzling a pediatrician advocating for COVID-19 vaccines | Cerabino
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It’s pretty easy to get in trouble for speaking your mind in the “free state of Florida.”
Just ask the head of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who was removed by e-mail from her seat on the board of Florida Healthy Kids, an organization that uses state and federal money to provide low-cost health and dental insurance to children.
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Dr. Lisa Gwynn’s crime was that she was an advocate for making COVID-19 vaccinations available for children younger than 5 years old in Florida’s county health departments, the places where poor kids have access to medical care.
Vaccine advocate not wanted in Florida
Oh, boy. That works in other states. But not in DeSantistan – an anti-vax totalitarian outpost on the edge of the continent, a breakaway state that was the only one not to pre-order these vaccines for young children.
So, it wasn’t surprising that Gwynn’s off-message advocacy for consensus science would get her in trouble in a place that nurtures herd stupidity. It’s just jaw-dropping to note just how stupid stupid can get in Florida.
Gwynn was notified that her pro-vaccine stance had annoyed Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.
For the record, Patronis isn’t a doctor. His educational resume is two years at Gulf Coast State College and two years at Florida State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science.
He is mostly a guy who sells cooked fish, a scion in Capt. Anderson’s, a family-operated seafood restaurant in Panama City for the past 55 years.
Patronis is more sturgeon general than surgeon general. And in all matters medical, except for perhaps hocking up a bone in the throat, he’s far from an informed source.
Gwynn is. She’s an associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine and the medical director for the Pediatric Mobile Clinic, a program that offers medical services to uninsured children.
But is her calamari tough like rubber? And what’s her policy on the $3 shared-entree charge?
Gwynn learned she was ousted from the board because Patronis, the fish guy who is Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), disagreed with her.
“You went on to make some very political statements that do not reflect the CFO’s point of view; even going so far as to say that the state is ‘obstructing’ access to vaccines,” the email said. “The CFO does not share your opinion and believes that the state has gone to great lengths to protect lives in the face of the Coronavirus.”
No learned medical opinions wanted
So, there you have it. The pediatrician who is an educated expert on childhood medical care got in trouble because Jimmy “Sturgeon General” Patronis would prefer she clams up because he “does not share your opinion.”
Who knew that medical decisions in Florida now go through Jimmy The Flounder. Don’t we already have enough outliers making medical decisions in the state?
And is it really a “very political statement” to reaffirm the medical consensus on vaccinations and be an advocate for patients?
Here’s what Dr. Gwynn told Health News Florida, a collaboration of public radio stations, after her removal from the board.
“I'm worried most about those children that are uninsured that rely on the health departments,” Gwynn said. “I'm concerned about those areas in the state that are rural locations where there might only be one pediatrician, and they may receive all of their vaccines from the local health department, they will not have access.”
Patronis, on the other hand, appears to be worried about pleasing his boss, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has put Florida on an anti-vaccine trajectory since he appointed Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a California cardiologist with no experience with COVID-19 patients, as Florida’s Surgeon General.
Before coming to Florida, Ladapo was part of a staged effort to promote hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 cure, posing with other doctors in white lab coats, cosplaying as "America’s Frontline Doctors." The group was led by Dr. Simone Gold, a Beverly Hills, Calif. doctor who spoke at a Stop the Steal Trump rally and was sentenced last month to 60 days in jail for being part of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 of last year.
DeSantis went out of his way to oust the state’s existing surgeon general and install Ladapo, despite Ladapo's fringe medical views and lack of experience. Ladapo immediately began bad-mouthing COVID-19 vaccinations for adults and refusing to say whether he had been vaccinated.
Florida opts out of child vaccines
So when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously last month to give emergency authorization for the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on children between the ages of 5 and six months old, Florida was the only state not to pre-order for the shots through the federal government.
“States do not need to be involved in the convoluted vaccine distribution process, especially when the federal government has a track record of developing inconsistent and unsustainable COVID-19 policies,” the now-politicized Florida Department of Health said in a statement. “It is also no surprise we chose not to participate in distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine when the Department does not recommend it for all children.”
Despite the vaccines for young children being called safe and beneficial by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida maintained the stance that no children, 18 and under, should be vaccinated.
So, when the vaccines first became authorized for young children on June 17, Florida refused to allow county health departments to receive the vaccinations, which meant that about 33,000 Florida children who get their medical care from the state’s health departments wouldn’t have access to the vaccinations.
“We don’t believe it should be offered at all and we’ve communicated that to Floridians,” Ladapo later testified in a briefing to a congressional subcommittee.
Dr. Gwynn, speaking after her ouster, told Florida Health News that Florida’s anti-vaccine stance isn’t a sound medical decision.
“The other ironic part is that if you're over 5, the local health departments do carry the COVID vaccine. It doesn't make sense,” she said.
“And it is not science-based, because the evidence is clear: The vaccine is safe and effective for children six months to five years of age. There shouldn't be any reason to make that decision," she said.
“No other state in the country has made this decision, nor has any medical sanctioning or organization body made any other recommendation other than the vaccine is effective and safe.”
How dare you, Dr. Gwynn. Injecting a learned medical opinion that doesn’t bolster and promote the political aspirations of the Governor.
Worried about poor kids. Ugh, how … political.
It’s a good thing we have higher medical authorities, such as the doctor of drawn butter, Jimmy “Cobia-$19.95” Patronis, to reel you in.
Frank Cerabino is a columnist at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at fcerabino@gannett.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Doctor removed from Florida Health Kids board over COVID vax support
