![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/092121-Dr-Joseph-Ladapo-Ron-DeSantis-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nDeSantis announced Tuesday that the state\u2019s new surgeon general is Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a heart specialist who signed a public statement <\/a>last year calling for people to become infected with the virus to build herd immunity. Ladapo has also written several opinion pieces spreading dubious medical advice, such as promoting a virus treatment found to lack benefits and cause potentially deadly complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As surgeon general, Ladapo will oversee the state\u2019s Department of Health. He previously worked at the University of California at Los Angeles, with his research focusing on such topics as HIV and smoking, before being appointed to the University of Florida last week in a confidential faculty vote. His position pays $262,000 annually and comes with tenure subject to approval by UF trustees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeSantis bypassed actual infectious disease experts on the UF faculty, including at its Emerging Pathogens Institute<\/a>, who have experience studying COVID-19 and helping prevent its spread. Florida’s previous surgeon general, Scott Rivkees, is a UF faculty member who was barely heard from publicly<\/a> after advocating social distancing at an April 2020 event and being removed from the stage by a DeSantis staffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ladapo\u2019s appointment is further proof that UF administrators have become accomplices to DeSantis as he puts public health at risk through his COVID policies. UF President Kent Fuchs previously\u00a0reversed a decision<\/a>\u00a0to hold classes online for three weeks as cases surged, only hours after the move was announced, and has\u00a0deferred to the state\u00a0<\/a>on decisions about masks and vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, the governor visited Alachua County for a rally<\/a> opposing the city of Gainesville\u2019s vaccine requirement for its employees. DeSantis stood silently as speakers spread false information about vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ladapo has also sown doubts about vaccines, including in a June opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal with the headline \u201cAre Covid Vaccines Riskier Than Advertised?\u201d<\/a> The answer to that question is a resounding \u201cno,\u201d based on regulatory reviews and overwhelming evidence. Causing unfounded fears about vaccines amounts to public health malpractice, especially as the unvaccinated have made up the vast majority of deaths and strained hospital resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ladapo co-authored a New York Daily News column<\/a> in October touting the benefits of hydroxychloroquine, a drug promoted by former president Donald Trump to treat the virus. In a recent commentary in The American Journal of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University medical researchers reviewed randomized trials of hydroxychloroquine and found strong support for halting its use<\/a> to treat COVID due to a lack of benefits combined with potentially fatal cardiovascular complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n