Psaki Clashes with DeSantis Official over Recommendation against Covid Vaccines for Healthy Children

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday condemned Florida surgeon general Joseph Ladapo’s recommendation against healthy children receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.

When a reporter asked Psaki whether the Biden administration agreed with that advisory, she replied: “Absolutely not. … We know the science, we know the data and what works and what the most effective steps are in protecting people of a range of ages from hospitalization and even death.”

She affirmed that the FDA and CDC have confirmed the vaccine’s safety and efficacy for children. While it’s unclear what exact age range Ladapo’s guidance would target, studies have consistently found that Covid infection poses an infinitesimal risk of severe illness for young children.

In her response, Psaki focused on adolescents, who are at higher risk than young children.

“We also know through the data that unvaccinated teenagers are three times as likely to be hospitalized for Covid than vaccinated teenagers, so it’s deeply disturbing that there are politicians peddling conspiracy theories out there, and casting doubt on vaccinations when it is our best tool against the virus and the best tool to prevent even teenagers from being hospitalized,” Psaki said.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that they are not a group that is vulnerable to serious infection, children have borne the brunt of mitigation measures throughout the pandemic, such as masking in public school for seven hours a day.

The leader of Florida’s health department announced the decision Monday at a roundtable organized by Governor Ron DeSantis.

“The Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children,” Ladapo said at the meeting.

“[There’s] individual rights, individual choice, and truth on one side, and really sort of overarching powers, overarching government, abuse of powers, abuse of data, dishonesty and frankly, a lot of unethical behavior on the other side,” he added.

Ladapo has echoed DeSantis on many Covid-19 policies, slamming the Biden administration in recent months for preventing the distribution of certain monoclonal antibodies.

While many European countries expedited and expanded vaccine access for almost all age groups in their populations, Sweden announced in January that it would not recommend vaccines for five-to-eleven-year-olds because it said the risks exceeded the benefits. Similarly, Germany is only recommending the vaccine among five-to-eleven-year-olds with pre-existing health conditions.