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.
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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.
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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.
