CNN: “The Louisiana Department of Health will no longer promote mass vaccination, the state’s surgeon general, Dr. Ralph Abraham, told state health workers Thursday.
“The State of Louisiana and LDH have historically promoted vaccines for vaccine preventable illnesses through our parish health units, community health fairs, partnerships and media campaigns,” Abraham wrote in a memo addressed to “LDH Team Members” and obtained by CNN. “While we encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider, LDH will no longer promote mass vaccination.”
The directive, first reported by the Times-Picayune, came the same day anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It was timing that Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the Health Department for the City of New Orleans, said she didn’t think was a coincidence.”