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What does "citing repeatedly debunked claims" mean in the following phrase?

I understand "debunked" means expose the falseness or hollowness of a myth, idea, or belief. And based on the definition it seems the phrase is saying the surgeon general calls to stop the use of mRNA vaccines based on the falseness or hollowness of the risk of DNA contamination. But the logic sounds weird.

"Florida’s surgeon general Joseph A Ladapo has called for the “halt” to the use of mRNA Covid-19 vaccine to treat the virus, citing repeatedly debunked claims about the risk of DNA contamination."

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  • The surgeon general is citing claims. The claims have been debunked.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jan 12 at 12:19
  • politico.com/news/2023/04/24/…
    – TimR
    Commented Jan 12 at 15:16
  • You are right that the wording is suboptimal. Instead of making debunked an adjective it would have been clearer to move that information into a relative clause "... based on claims which have been repeatedly debunked" or better yet, "... but his calls for the halt are based on claims which have been repeatedly debunked."
    – TimR
    Commented Jan 12 at 15:28

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Florida’s surgeon general Joseph A Ladapo has called for the “halt” to the use of mRNA Covid-19 vaccine to treat the virus, citing repeatedly debunked claims about the risk of DNA contamination.

The surgeon general cited claims, even though they had been debunked, in his call to stop the use of the vaccines. Of course in his statements he would not say or admit that the claims he was citing had been debunked. There is no weirdness in the logic.

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  • Thank you so much for your detailed explanation!
    – Maurice
    Commented Jan 25 at 12:44

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