Louisiana forbids public health workers from promoting COVID, flu and mpox shots
Rosemary Westwood at WWNO for NPR reports.
A group of high-level managers at the Louisiana Department of Health walked into a Nov. 14 meeting in Baton Rouge expecting to talk about outreach and community events.
Instead, they were told by an assistant secretary in the department and another official that department leadership had a new policy: Advertising or otherwise promoting the COVID, influenza or mpox vaccines, an established practice there — and at most other public health entities in the U.S. — must stop.
This will not be a written policy, and there are apparently no official minutes of the meeting.
"I mean, do they want to dismantle public health?" one employee at the health department said.
"We're really talking about deaths," said another. "Even a reduction in flu and COVID vaccines can lead to increased deaths."
In a statement, the Louisiana Department of Health told NPR it has been "reevaluating both the state's public health priorities as well as our messaging around vaccine promotion, especially for COVID-19 and influenza."
The statement described the move as a shift "away from one-size-fits-all paternalistic guidance" to a stance in which "immunization for any vaccine, along with practices like mask wearing and social distancing, are an individual's personal choice."
The state's new Governor, and the two top people at the head of the state's health agency, all promote mis- and disinformation concerning vaccine efficacy, including the discredited autism story.
...the Louisiana Department of Health told NPR it has been "reevaluating both the state's public health priorities as well as our messaging around vaccine promotion...[and] falsely claimed "the flu vaccine does not prevent one from getting the influenza virus."
The policy rises to the level of "absurdity," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "It's gotten to the point of parody, where a public health agency doesn't promote the public's health."
"It's a dangerous, dangerous thing," Offit said. "It's the most vulnerable among us who suffer this, and it will be our children who suffer this. And my question will be, will they be held accountable?"
"You cannot ask people, 'Hey, we have flu shots. Would you like one?'" at a community event, according to the staff member with knowledge of the meeting. "But if they come up to us, knowing we are the health department and say, 'Hey, we hear y'all might have flu shots,' we can say, 'Yes, would you like one?'"
The medical directors were told that because the health department is a government agency, staff are not allowed to "coerce people" by promoting vaccinations, especially for COVID, flu and mpox. "They have definitely made it clear that we are not supposed to be pushing vaccines at all," the staff member added.
