Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, responsible for one of the worst COVID-19 responses in the nation, has just announced his new Surgeon General, Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD, a UCLA Medical Center physician and health policy researcher who appeared in the viral "Demon Sperm" quack doctor's video that advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.
Dr. Ladapo appears to be anti-mask, pro-ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and against mass vaccinating the public against the coronavirus which to date has now killed over 675,000 Americans.
For example, in one of his many op-eds, mostly published in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Lapado says it's "reasonable" for parents to not want to, or to be skeptical of vaccinating their children. In February he hinted that the vaccine might not be safe for pregnant women, calling for "humility about areas of uncertainty—such as vaccination in pregnant women." CDC guidance now urges them to be vaccinated. Studies show pregnant women who contract coronavirus are 10, 15, and even 22 times more likely to die if unvaccinated.
"Tools for stopping variants are limited and, like masks and distancing, vaccines are not a panacea," Dr. Ladapo also wrote in February.
In an April op-ed, "An American Epidemic of 'Covid Mania'," he wrote: "The problem isn't only the overreaction to the virus but the diminution of every other problem."
In June he asked, "Are Covid Vaccines Riskier Than Advertised?" despite billions of people worldwide having been vaccinated with almost no lasting negative side effects.
Dr. Ladapo appeared in a viral video social media companies removed from their platforms in 2020, a video that received millions of views in part thanks to then-President Donald Trump. It featured "a group that has dubbed itself America's Frontline Doctors, standing on the steps of the Supreme Court and claiming that neither masks nor shutdowns are necessary to fight the pandemic, despite a plethora of expertise to the contrary," as The Washington Post reported.
The lead physician, Stella Immanuel, "has a history of making particularly outlandish statements — including that the uterine disorder endometriosis is caused by sex with demons that takes place in dreams."
That led phrases like "demon semen," and "demon sperm" to take over social media.
Rolling Stone, profiling the physicians who appeared in the video, including Ladapo, called them "COVID-19 Truthers."