I wonder what Parker Small would have thought of Joseph A. Lapado’s sweetheart deal with the University of Florida?
Not much is my guess.
During my years as Sun Editorial Page Editor, Parker was one of my favorite “go to” UF scientists. A world class immunologist, he was recipient of the Center for Disease Control’s Florida Childhood Immunization Champion Award in 2012.
As the CDC noted in its citation: “Dr. Small is a vocal supporter of fair and full vaccination for all children, whether through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program or private insurers. In an effort to increase vaccine rates among middle and elementary school students, Dr. Small served as the driving force behind the Alachua County, Florida, school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) program.
Basically Dr. Small understood that kids tend to be little germ factories. And that if you want to improve the odds of health-challenged adults and especially the vulnerable elderly, avoiding the flu you need to start by getting as many school age kids as possible vaccinated.
Because when grandma greets little Johnny at the school bus with a hug and a big kiss, the last thing she needs is to pick up a potentially lethal dose in the exchange.
Parker, with UF’s full support, was a motivating force behind an inspired drive by Alachua County schools to immunize as many students as possible for flu season. Reasoning that the fewer kids who get the flu, the fewer adults they will infect in turn.
The result? “A three-year volunteer-driven campaign to immunize children in local schools has made Alachua County residents among the most protected in the United States against contracting influenza,” UF bragged in a 2011 news release.
Before his retirement, Parker was one of the founders of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, which for nearly 20 years has been doing cutting edge research on combatting infectious diseases from around the world.
I’m just wishful thinking here, but I certainly hope the powers that be at UF Health have the good sense to keep Lapado well away from that institute.
Not to belabor the point, but Dr. Small was of an era when UF took its medicine, its educational mission and its robust research capabilities, seriously.
Before The Great DeSanitizer told the ‘yes-boss’ crowd at Tigert Hall that “woke” was bad, DEI was evil, sociology and the humanities were a waste of time…and best medical practices must take a back seat to political expediency.
Which is why as soon as The Great DeSanitizer hired Lapado to be Florida Surgeon General Of Faux Medicine – at a salary of $250,000 salary – UF immediately handed him a part time associate professor gig, thereby padding his pay check by an additional $262,000.
Lapado began earning his pay by embarking on an anti-vax crusade.
“Ladapo’s tenure stands as a microcosm of the deadly politicization of public health in the U.S. and a damning indictment of what happens when those happy to misrepresent evidence rise to a position of power and responsibility,” Scientific American observed.
Parker Small devoted his professional life to fighting contagious diseases. And with his, and UF’s, help, Alachua schools became, for a time, a national model for how communities can contain flu outbreaks.
So what’s Lapado’s position on how to combat the flu? Fortunately, Fox News was happy to pass on his sage advice.
Viral infections are, he told Fox News, “a risk that is part of living and being on this planet. So, it’s something that I think doesn’t require any type of extraordinary preparation, but it’s something that people should prepare for.
But wait, there’s more: As per Fox News: “This includes maintaining a balanced diet, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep and engaging with others socially. The surgeon general also mentioned the health benefits of supplements such as vitamin D.”
Got it? Eat. Work out. Hang with as many members of, um, the herd as possible. And don’t worry your pretty head about viruses.
Oh, and vitamin D. Lot’s and lots of vitamin D.
UF Health must be so proud to have on faculty a scientist who will almost certainly nab the next Nobel Prize for Medicine.
All of which begs the question: Would the University of Florida today even consider hiring a woke medical radical like Dr. Parker Small? You know, someone who believes that vaccines are crucial to saving lives?
Or even more to the point: Would someone with Parker Small’s credentials and convictions today even consider working for a university that would have a Joseph A. Lapado on its faculty?
FreeGNV 