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FILE - Florida Department of Health Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo speaks during a Patient Freedom news conference on March 5, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Dr. Joseph Ladapo, whose credentials include two Harvard University degrees, says that requiring vaccinations for diseases like measles, polio and chickenpox amounts to government-imposed “slavery.” It’s far from the first time Florida’s surgeon general has cut against the medical establishment grain.

Ladapo, an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, made worldwide headlines this week by announcing Florida would seek to eliminate all mandated vaccinations for schoolchildren and others. He cast the immunization re

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