A United States Marine prepares to receive the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at Camp Hansen on April 28, 2021, in Kin, Japan. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
If you’re looking for me on the road anytime soon, don’t blink.
Speed limits and school zones be damned, I’ve got places to be, things to do and people to see.
You see, I’m a really good driver, so I really don’t feel there’s any risk involved.
Plus, I shouldn’t have to waste my time putting on a seatbelt. And just because some people can’t handle their alcohol, why can’t I enjoy a tall cold one behind the wheel?
I mean, if Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham really wants to emphasize personal choice when it comes to public health, why not put the pedal to the metal?
My driving safety philosophy has moved into the hyperbolic fast lane after an investigation from WWNO-FM’s Rosemary Westwood uncovered that leadership at the Louisiana Department of Health has directed their employees to stop promotion of vaccines for COVID, influenza and mpox.
That means no more vaccination events or campaigns to encourage the public to get the shots, which the LDH considers “one-size-fits-all paternalistic guidance,” according to a statement provided to WWNO. Officials favor an approach in which “immunization for any vaccine, along with practices like mask wearing and social distancing, are an individual’s personal choice,” according to the statement.
Where to begin?
For starters, need I point out the blinding irony that state leaders feel it’s OK to leave certain health choices up to individuals while denying women reproductive autonomy? It’s yet another example of the “pro-life” stance having some convenient escape clauses.
Jennifer Herricks, a microbiologist and molecular geneticist who founded Louisiana Families for Vaccines, is blunt in her assessment of the state health department’s latest decision.
“People are going to die because of this policy,” she said.
For Abraham, who’s practiced as a veterinarian and family doctor, this is just his latest departure from science-based medicine. You’ll recall he recently wrote an “Epstein’s mother” form letter for health care workers who might want to get around an employer’s flu vaccine mandate.
In his letter, Abraham falsely claims flu vaccines do not prevent “infection, transmission, hospitalization, or death” and amount to “little more than a guess” at what will be the dominant strain in a particular season.
While his letter was a pointless gesture, it’s more worrisome that Louisiana’s top health official is actively discouraging public vaccination efforts. It comes as The Times-Picayune reports flu cases in the state are twice the national average, with children ages 2 to 4 leading the way in flu-related emergency room visits.
The surgeon general’s take on vaccines amplifies a misguided mindset that arose during the COVID pandemic – that a single vaccination grants an individual immunity. For Abraham or any other health care provider to promote this assumption is an abdication of their duties.
One need only look at dwindling vaccination rates to show misinformation has taken root.
The flu vaccine acceptance rate in Louisiana was 32% as of mid-December, compared with 42% nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both figures are down significantly from before the pandemic, when the U.S. came just short of the CDC’s recommended “healthy people target” of 70%.
A similarly concerning trend is unfolding with measles, for which the vaccine acceptance rate has fallen below the CDC’s recommended rate for four consecutive years.
The health department has not curtailed promotion of measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations, though Herricks sees the potential for its latest messaging on COVID, influenza and mpox to undermine those efforts.
“LDH is putting politics ahead of the health of our residents,” Herricks said. “There is no doubt in my mind that eliminating access to vaccines in this manner will lead to a sharp increase in disease outbreaks, resurgence of diseases that have been nearly eliminated, and a further erosion in trust of not just these three life-saving vaccines, but vaccinations in general.”
More clouds gather on the horizon with the nomination of vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as U.S. health secretary. President-elect Donald Trump has said he would keep the polio vaccine available but offered no such promise to others, adding that he doesn’t favor vaccine mandates. Kennedy, at the invitation of then Attorney General Jeff Landry, appeared at his side before a Louisiana legislative committee in 2021 and shared sweeping disinformation on COVID and vaccines in general.
With leaders like Abraham and, soon, Kennedy leading public health policy, you have to wonder if the worrisome trends for vaccines could lead to a corresponding departure of health care professionals out of frustration – or even fear – that scientific reasoning has left the building.
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