Florida surgeon general calls to stop COVID-19 mRNA vaccines over health claims refuted by FDA
CBSN
Florida's state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, is calling for doctors to stop recommending mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, citing alleged health risks promoted by anti-vaccine activists that federal health officials have already refuted as "implausible" and "misleading."
In a bulletin posted Wednesday on the Florida Department of Health's website, Ladapo raised concerns about "nucleic acid contaminants" found in the approved Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. He claimed this could deliver "contaminant DNA" into human cells and also raised concerns about cancer risk.
Ladapo alleges in his statement that "DNA integration poses a unique and elevated risk to human health" and the human genome, "including the risk that DNA integrated into sperm or egg gametes could be passed onto offspring of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine recipients." He adds, "If the risks of DNA integration have not been assessed for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings."

As the Trump administration continues to prepare military options for strikes in Iran, U.S. allies in the Mideast, including Turkey, Oman and Qatar, are attempting to head off that possibility by brokering diplomatic talks, multiple regional officials told CBS News. Camilla Schick and Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.

Another winter storm may be headed toward the East Coast of the United States this weekend, on the heels of a powerful and deadly system that blanketed huge swaths of the country in snow and ice. The effects of that original storm have lingered for many areas in its path, and will likely remain as repeated bouts of Arctic air plunge downward from Canada and drive temperatures below freezing. Nikki Nolan contributed to this report. In:











