Florida's Surgeon General Joseph A Ladapo this week advised against the administration of mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in younger men citing heart risks.
Ladapo said there was a very high risk of heart-related deaths within 28 days of mRNA vaccination among men aged 18-39. He cited an analysis conducted by Florida government as the source of this information.
"This analysis found there is an 84 per cent increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination," said a release by Florida Department of Health.
It added that such risk was only 10 per cent in men over 60.
Florida government also said that, with such high risk, the risk of the vaccine in this population group far outweighed any benefit, according to the release co-issued by Ladapo and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The release added that no such risk was found in non-mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.
mRNA vaccines are those which use mRNA technology like the ones developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The vaccines like those by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech don't use mRNA technology.
The tweet by Ladapo announcing this advice on Saturday was removed by Twitter as it "violated the Twitter rules".
Covid-19 vaccination has been a polarising subject in the United States with perception towards vaccine being divided among political and ideological lines. Vaccines are considered to be the first line of defence against Covid-19. While vaccines don't certainly prevent deaths, they are known to reduce severity, deaths, and even transmission to some extent. However, several people don't take vaccine because of religious views.
Moreover, mandates for vaccines or masks are considered by many as a violation of their personal liberties and the right to choose.
In September 2021, Pew Research reported that Democrats are more likely to be vaccinated than Republicans. Florida is a Republican-ruled state.
"Among Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party, 86 per cent said they were at least partially vaccinated as of August, compared with six-in-ten [60 per cent] Republicans and GOP leaners," repported Pew.
Florida, a Republican-ruled state, also advises against vaccination in children.
Florida recommends against vaccination in healthy children aged 5-17 and children under five years of age.
