Louisiana’s health department “will no longer promote mass vaccination”, including using media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccines against preventable illnesses, according to an internal memo issued by the surgeon general in the state of 4.5 million people.
The memo from surgeon general, Dr Ralph Abraham, immediately ignited fears of lower vaccination rates leading to increased sickness, hospitalization and death – as well as a return of diseases such as measles and polio that had all been mostly eradicated by vaccines.
Appointed to his position in June by Louisiana’s extremist Republican governor, Jeff Landry, Abraham wrote that the state would continue to “encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider”. But, characterizing it as a matter of personal choice, Abraham said the state’s health department would do away with promoting the practice of mass vaccination – even as Louisiana has grappled with a surge in influenza, for which vaccines are offered seasonally.
Meanwhile, Abraham’s directive came as neighboring Texas reported nearly 50 measles cases on Friday – amounting to the state’s worst outbreak of the disease in nearly 30 years.
In a letter posted on the health department’s website, Abraham denounced “blanket government mandates” for vaccines and criticized the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s push for vaccines meant to protect people from Covid-19.
“Unfortunately, many public health departments are still stuck in pandemic-response mode,” the letter reads. It goes on to say that the “government should admit the limitations of its role in people’s lives and pull back its tentacles from the practice of medicine”.
Abraham’s memo – which was obtained by the Guardian – came on the same day that the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr was confirmed by the US Senate to serve as the nation’s health secretary under Donald Trump’s second presidential administration.
The memo noted that the department would still “stock and provide vaccines”. But that provided little comfort to Jennifer Herricks, the founder of the Louisiana Families for Vaccines non-profit organization.
“Public health officials should be working to increase access to lifesaving vaccines – not stepping away from the responsibilities,” Herricks said.
Herricks pointed out inaccuracies in the letter from Abraham, a veterinarian, family medicine physician and former congressman from north Louisiana. She singled out his claim that Covid vaccines were “shown to have no third-party benefit in terms of reduced transmission” when they in fact have been demonstrated to reduce transmission significantly.
“And the consequences of lower vaccination rates? More illness. More hospitalizations. More deaths,” Herricks said.
A source with direct knowledge of the state health department’s operations said many “uninsured and underinsured residents” across Louisiana have relied on annual drives to get their families vaccinated against the flu and Covid.
“We are now no longer allowed to do this at all … and we will absolutely see increased morbidity and mortality rates associated with vaccine-preventable diseases, especially within historically disadvantaged communities,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share thoughts frankly.
The source also said portraying vaccines as a matter of personal choice “is infuriating” when Louisiana has a near-total ban on abortion. Advocates of abortion access see the matter as one of personal choice rather than something that should be dictated by the government.
Early in the pandemic, New Orleans, Louisiana’s best-known city, was among the US communities most disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
Its local government has indicated it plans to continue supporting vaccinations.
The city council on Thursday passed a resolution to support immunization efforts.
On Friday, after the surgeon general’s memo, New Orleans’s municipal health department published a post on X encouraging residents to get their flu vaccines.
The city’s health department director, Jennifer Avegno, told the council on Thursday: “There’s not scientific debate on this, this is as close as you can get to established fact that vaccinations – particularly mass vaccinations – and community immunity saves millions and millions of lives.”
