 | |
 | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceding Department |
|
| Jurisdiction | Government of Florida |
| Headquarters | Tallahassee, Florida 30°23′N84°14′W / 30.39°N 84.23°W /30.39; -84.23 |
| Department executive | |
| Website | www |
TheFlorida Department of Health is responsible for protecting thepublic health and safety of the residents and visitors of the state ofFlorida. It is a cabinet-level agency of the state government, headed by a statesurgeon general who reports to thegovernor. The department has its headquarters inTallahassee.[1]
During the 1996 legislative session, the beleagueredFlorida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services was reconstructed as two entities: the Department of Health and theFlorida Department of Children and Families.[2]
The Florida Department of Health[3] operates county health departments in all 67 of the state's counties. The agency employs more than 17,000 persons. It has worked on two-year-old immunizations, tobacco control, and statewide preparedness response efforts.
The Florida Department of Health is responsible forpublic health, including:[4]
On 15 February 2023, the department published a safety alert from the State Surgeon GeneralJoseph Ladapo warning of “a novel increase” inadverse event reports related tomRNA-basedCOVID-19 vaccines.[6] The federalCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) subsequently published a public response to Ladapo and the department, offering rebuttals to his "misinterpretations and misinformation" related to theVaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.[7]
On 10 May 2023, Ladapo issued an open letter toFood and Drug Administration CommissionerRobert Califf and CDC DirectorRochelle Walensky accusing their agencies of withholding information regarding the true rate of adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccines.[8] Ladapo issued another letter on 6 December 2023, asking the FDA and CDC to address reports of "nucleic acid contaminants" discovered in samples ofPfizer–BioNTech andModerna COVID-19 vaccines.[9] The FDA dismissed his concerns as "misleading" and stated that the agency stood firm in its regulatory decision making.[10] On 3 January 2024, Ladapo called for a statewide halt of the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.[11]
