evidence: Ladapo issued the bulletin as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), his political patron, fights to stay alive in the Republican presidential primary, in which he trails former president Donald Trump by more than 40 percentage points in head-to-head polls. The Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest, are slated to be held Jan. 15. [...] Scott Rivkees, a DeSantis appointee who preceded Ladapo as Florida surgeon general before stepping down in September 2021, called Wednesday’s announcement "surprising and disappointing" and at odds with settled science about the safety of coronavirus vaccines. But current DeSantis officials praised the announcement. [...] Trump advisers note that DeSantis had used federal funds to promote the vaccines in Florida before taking a more skeptical tone.