The Florida Department of Health is responsible for public health, including: [4] On 15 February 2023, the department published a safety alert from the State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo warning of “a novel increase” in adverse event reports related to mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines.

[6] The federal Centers 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 the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

[7] On 10 May 2023, Ladapo issued an open letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf and CDC Director Rochelle 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 of Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

[9] The FDA dismissed his concerns as "misleading" and stated that the agency stood firm in its regulatory decision making.