Supporters say the effort stems from what they describe as a “pattern of actions and statements that undermine fair representation.”
Author: Athina Morris
Published: 10:49 AM CDT May 5, 2026
Updated: 12:13 PM CDT May 5, 202
Days after suspending Louisiana’s U.S. House primaries, Gov. Jeff Landry is facing mounting backlash from residents.
On Monday, the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office confirmed it has received a petition to recall Landry, starting a 180-day window for organizers to collect voter signatures.
The petition was filed by Baton Rouge residents Marian Gbaiwon Hills and Katilyn P. Stepter and spans all 64 parishes. Supporters say the effort stems from what they describe as a “pattern of actions and statements that undermine fair representation.”
Because it is a statewide recall effort, Louisiana law requires signatures from 20% of registered voters. Out of 2,504,416 active voters, organizers must collect at least 500,884 valid signatures by Oct. 31, 2026, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
All signatures must be original and handwritten. Each parish registrar of voters will verify signatures submitted in their jurisdiction. The petition will become part of the public record 90 days after the first signature is filed.
An NPR investigation found Louisiana health officials told staff to stop promoting vaccines for COVID, flu and mpox, holding flu shot events
Rosemary Westwood at NPR:
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.
NPR has confirmed the policy was discussed at this meeting, and at two other meetings held within the department's Office of Public Health, on Oct. 3 and Nov. 21, through interviews with four employees at the Department of Health, which employs more than 6,500 people and is the state's largest agency.
According to the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear losing their jobs or other forms of retaliation, the policy would be implemented quietly and would not be put in writing.
Staffers were also told that it applies to every aspect of the health department's work: Employees could not send out press releases, give interviews, hold vaccine events, give presentations or create social media posts encouraging the public to get the vaccines. They also could not put up signs at the department's clinics that COVID, flu or mpox vaccines were available on site.
The new policy in Louisiana was implemented as some politicians have promoted false information about vaccines and as President-elect Donald Trump seeks to have anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And some public health experts are concerned that if other states follow Louisiana, the U.S. could face rising levels of disease and further erosion of trust in the nation's public health infrastructure.
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A blow to public health practice
Staff at Louisiana's health department fear the new policy undermines their efforts to protect the public, and violates the fundamental mission of public health: to prevent illness and disease by following the science.
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Experts fear consequences of undermining trust in vaccine
Last year, 652 people in Louisiana died of COVID, including five children. Louisiana currently is tied with DC for the highest rate of flu in the U.S. In 2022 alone, flu killed 586 people in Louisiana.
Every health department staff member, former staff member, public health official and vaccine expert contacted by NPR repeated the scientific consensus that vaccines are safe, effective, and essential for preventing illness, hospitalizations, and deaths.
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Policy change follows new governor's election
Until becoming Louisiana governor in early 2024, Republican Jeff Landry served as the state's attorney general for eight years. During the pandemic, he criticized the state's COVID response and filed lawsuits over federal and state vaccine mandates.
On Dec. 6, 2021, Attorney General Landry spoke at a state committee hearing against adding COVID to the childhood immunization schedule. At his side was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who presented false claims about COVID vaccines.
This year the Republican-controlled legislature passed five bills — all signed by Gov. Landry — and two resolutions aimed at loosening vaccine requirements, limiting the power of public health authorities and sowing doubt about vaccine safety.
Gov. Landry also appointed Dr. Ralph Abraham, a family medicine doctor, to be the state's surgeon general. That position co-leads the Department of Health, and is tasked with crafting health policy that is then carried out by the departmental co-leader, the secretary.
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Abraham said masking, lockdowns and vaccination requirements "were practically ineffective," that COVID vaccine adverse effects have been "suppressed," that "we don't know" whether blood from people who've been vaccinated is safe for donation and that "we hope and pray" COVID vaccines don't increase the risk miscarriages.
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A slippery slope to future disease outbreaks
Experts told NPR they feared a policy that undermines COVID, flu and mpox vaccinations could have a spillover effect, reducing public trust in vaccinations overall, including those given to children to prevent a host of dangerous and deadly illnesses.
"I believe that we will see measles cases. I believe we will see whooping cough cases. I believe we will likely see meningitis outbreaks," said Hood.
In the Nov. 14 meeting, a staff member asked whether the ban on promoting vaccines applied to children's immunizations, but the answer was noncommittal, according to an employee with knowledge of the meeting's details.
"My understanding was it's not clear to what extent we might be able to promote childhood vaccinations," the staff member said.
(The Louisiana Department of Health's statement to NPR said the changes in policy and messaging do not apply to childhood immunizations.)
Nationally, vaccination rates for serious childhood diseases have been falling in recent years, including in Louisiana.
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The rise of public health officials promoting misinformation
Louisiana isn't the only state where public health officials have recently announced controversial decisions and repeated false or discredited health theories.
Florida's surgeon general has made false claims about COVID vaccines, undermined school vaccine mandates for the measles and said local officials should stop adding fluoride to water supplies.
The consequences of anti-vaxxer extremism and anti-public health sentiments being normalized by Republicans: Louisiana bans the state's Department of Health from promoting COVID, flu, or mpox vaccines.
There is a movement to recall Jeff Landry going on right now and you can sign the petition. From what I hear, people are lining up to sign that thing. lol Nobody likes Jeff.
Louisiana Gov. Landry kidnaps unhoused people ahead of Super Bowl
By Louisiana Workers Council
Before daylight on January 15, Gov. Jeff Landry took the next step in taking over New Orleans. On Landry’s commands, armed state police rounded up unhoused people who had been camping close to the French Quarter and the Superdome, which is hosting the profitable Super Bowl on Feb. 9. Personal items, IDs, medicine, medical and social service records were destroyed. At least 1 arrest was made.
Bypassing the city government, Landry bussed unhoused people to a “transitional” warehouse shelter that had been set up in an industrial area. The mainly Black residents of the nearby neighborhood were not informed or consulted at all. The shelter — which is surrounded by a barbed wire fence — had no heat, showers, beds, or eye-level windows. One unhoused hospitality worker called it an internment camp.
Dr. Ralph Abraham, who as a state surgeon general ordered health officials to stop promoting mass vaccination, will serve as the US Centers
Dr. Ralph Abraham, who as a state surgeon general ordered health officials to stop promoting mass vaccination, will serve as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s principal deputy director.
