On Tuesday, Joseph Ladapo was appointed as the new Florida surgeon general by Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor. However, the doctor had featured alongside Doctor Stella Immanuel in a conspiracy video regarding COVID-19.
The Controversial History Of Joseph Ladapo
In 2020, religious minister and pediatrician Immanuel had become notorious for spreading bizarre theories. One of them claimed that ovarian cysts and endometriosis are caused by “demonic seed”.
In July of 2020, Joseph Ladapo had been present in a viral video that was 43 minutes long. He was a member of America’s Frontline Doctors group. When the video was released, Rolling Stone had covered the incident. They had verified that not even one doctor present there were immunologists or epidemiologists who were qualified enough to be an infectious diseases authority. The recorded speech of the doctors was arranged by a group of right-wing supporters who had rich Republican donors backing them.
Joseph Ladapo’s video was encouraged hydroxychloroquine as the COVID-19 “cure”, even after being disproved by studies. The video also claimed that masks were ineffective and that the flu was deadlier than COVID-19. Neither of them is true.
The video has been viewed several million times. Donald Trump, who was then President, along with his other prominent media figures in the right-wing, had shared the video on their accounts on social media. However, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube all struck down the video featuring Joseph Ladapo for violating their COVID-19 misinformation guidelines.
Joseph Ladapo has further supported the use of ivermectin, the medication for treating parasites in horses, as a COVID-19 symptom treatment. The US FDA has since recommended against using this for treating COVID-19. In 2020 October, Ladapo also agreed to the Great Barrington Declaration. It suggested the development of COVID-19 immunity among the social herd via natural infection.