After death of Covid-19 family member, man targeted Florida’s top health official in sarcastic letter

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“I am aware that he is right due to a recent experience with a member of my family,” Chamberlain wrote of Dr Joseph Ladapo’s remark last week. “He had a severe infection with COVID-19. He’s got past that now and is fully immune – not only to COVID-19 but also to the flu and other respiratory infections.”

Then comes the tragic twist: “Sure, we’ll bury this family member next week.”

Chamberlain’s letter quickly gained attention on Twitter, where readers (at least those who read to the end) applauded his post and sympathized with his dark sense of sarcasm. But Chamberlain doesn’t pay attention to social media, so he was “a little stunned” when a Washington Post reporter reached out to him and told him about the response online.
“I think when you talk about insanity you can’t answer with a serious argument. The only way to make people aware of something ridiculous is to ridicule it,” Chamberlain, 81, told CNN in an interview about his September 23 letter, submitted two days after Ladapo’s appointment by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Chamberlain wrote the letter following the Covid-19 death of his son’s stepfather this month, he said. The stepfather was vaccinated and died of Covid-19, a family member confirmed to CNN.

Ladapo has expressed skepticism about Covid-19 health measures, including wearing masks and vaccinations. He is also among a group of doctors who have supported unproven and disproved therapies including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Chamberlain’s letter targets Ladapo’s position on natural immunity and the protection it offers, which the doctor addressed in a September 21 press conference with the governor.

“You don’t have to go to medical school to look at the data and see that there is very good protection” offered by infection and recovery from Covid-19, Ladapo said. “There is huge data that supports the fact that natural immunity protects people from getting very sick, also protects people from getting infected again. So that’s what it is, and it’s great. . ”

Ladapo told reporters that “vaccines are dependent on the person,” noting that they “prevent the risk of serious illness”, but “people can choose what they want to do with this information.”

When asked if the state should do more to promote immunization, Ladapo told reporters that the state should promote “good health, and immunization is not the only way to do that.”

Chamberlain acknowledged that natural immunity exists, but criticized Ladapo’s emphasis.

“To see a person who should be giving honest advice telling people that you can be indifferent to everything we know about medical practice is outright betrayal of the public service,” he told CNN.

The Florida Department of Health did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment on Chamberlain’s letter.

“It took away a good friend of mine”

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long recommended that people infected with the coronavirus also get vaccinated, previously noting that while the risk of re-infection “is low in the months following initial infection,” that risk “May increase over time. with lower immunity. “
We might never achieve collective immunity with Covid-19. But here's how to maximize our chances
A CDC study published in August suggested that people who contracted Covid-19 in 2020 and did not receive a vaccine were more than twice as likely to be re-infected in May or June 2021 than people who also had Covid-19 but who were later fully vaccinated. This highlights the importance of being vaccinated regardless of your history of infection.
The authors of this study noted that scientists are still studying the duration and robustness of natural immunity against Covid-19. Previous studies have shown evidence of lasting immunity in some people who have already been infected, but the scientific consensus is that vaccines do a better job.
Additionally, although people who become ill with Covid-19 have some protection against reinfection, it can be short-lived, according to a study published in The Lancet Microbe on Friday.

“Reinfection can reasonably occur in three months or less,” Jeffrey Townsend, professor of biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health and lead author of the study, said in a press release. “Therefore, those who have been naturally infected should get vaccinated. A previous infection alone may offer very little long-term protection against subsequent infections.”

“A lot of times I’m not angry when I write a letter (to the editor),” Chamberlain said. “But I think this time I really was, because it took out a good friend of mine.”

Chamberlain’s parent was not the kind of person who would take Ladapo’s advice, he said. He was a “dear friend,” Chamberlain said, and “a wonderful father,” who spent many years working as a correctional officer and performing in his church choir.

“He wasn’t negligent or gave up his personal responsibility,” Chamberlain said, likening it to driving safely but still in an accident.

“I have been driving a car for 60 years, I have never caused a collision, but I have been hit four times by people who hit me.

“That’s the insidious thing about this infection,” he said. “People can be very careful, do everything right, and you always get that.”

The risk of being hospitalized or dying from Covid-19 is low for fully vaccinated Americans. However, in the rare cases where a vaccinated person becomes infected, CDC data suggests that the elderly and those with several underlying health conditions are most at risk for serious illness.

About 70% of breakthrough cases leading to hospitalization were in adults 65 and older, and about 87% of breakthrough cases leading to death were in adults 65 and over, the data suggests.

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