USA: Louisiana halts mass vaccination efforts

The Louisiana Department of Health has terminated mass vaccination campaigns and barred public health workers from recommending seasonal vaccines, The Times-Picayune has reported.

1. Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham issued a memo to state health workers  that said medical decision-making should occur between patients and physicians, not public health workers. 

"Rather than instructing individuals to receive any and all vaccines, LDH staff should communicate data regarding the reduced risk of disease, hospitalization, and death associated with a vaccine and encourage individuals to discuss considerations for vaccination with their healthcare provider," he wrote in the directive, obtained by The Times-Picayune.

While the state's public health divisions will still stock vaccines, the department "will no longer promote mass vaccinations," the document said. 

Alongside his staff memo, Dr Abraham posted a public statement criticising state and federal officials' response to the pandemic, including vaccine mandates.

"For the past couple of decades, public health agencies at the state and federal level have viewed it as a primary role to push pharmaceutical products, particularly vaccines," he wrote. "Perhaps there are some treatments that every human being should take, but they are few and far between, and things that are good generally don't have to be pushed by the government. Medical decision-making is a zero-sum game: when outside forces get involved, patient autonomy is sacrificed."

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Source: Becker's Clinical Leadership, 14 February 2025