vaccines

Louisiana’s Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham confirmed Thursday that two infants have died in the last six months amid an ongoing whooping cough outbreak in the state, and said vaccines are the best way to protect against infections.

The Louisiana State Medical Society and eight other medical organizations are calling for an end to the politicization of vaccines in the wake of a new Louisiana Department of Health policy banning vaccine promotion and events.

The directive continues a dramatic shift in vaccine policy within the health department under the leadership of Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham and Deputy Surgeon General Dr. Wyche Coleman, both of whom have repeated vaccine misinformation.

An NPR investigation found Louisiana health officials told staff to stop promoting vaccines for COVID, flu and mpox, holding flu shot events or otherwise encouraging the public to get those vaccines.

Dozens of anti-vaccine bills have died in the Louisiana Legislature since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultra-conservative lawmakers are gearing up for another fight.

Health officials gave out monkeypox vaccines and encouraged everyone — not just the LGBTQ community — to take the virus more seriously at the annual festival.

Public health officials across the country have complained they don’t have nearly enough monkeypox vaccine to meet demand for a growing outbreak. As of Friday, Louisiana has been allocated a little over 9,200 of the over 1 million shots the U.S. Government is distributing, though it won’t receive all of those doses at once.

The Louisiana Department of Health is making its limited supply of monkeypox vaccine available to men who have had sex with at least two men in the past 14 days or who have had sex with an anonymous male partner.