Louisiana Bans State Funded Promotion of COVID-19, Influenza and Mpox Vaccines

In December 2024, Louisiana’s Department of Health issued a directive barring public health workers from promoting COVID-19, influenza, or mpox vaccines.¹ This includes prohibiting staff from sending press releases, giving interviews, holding vaccine events, creating social media posts, or even displaying signs in clinics indicating that vaccines are available.²

The policy, which officials declined to put in writing, is seen as a drastic shift from previous aggressive efforts to promote vaccination. The policy was not explained publicly, and officials have stated that voluntary decisions about vaccination should be made by individuals in consultation with their doctors.³

Louisiana Health Officials Endorse Educated Vaccine Decision Making

Louisiana state health officials are now urging residents to make their own decisions about vaccinations, especially for COVID shots and influenza vaccines. This shift marks a departure from the state’s previous well-publicized vaccination campaigns and has drawn criticism from New Orleans officials and other public health professionals in the state. According to a statement from Louisiana Department of Health spokesperson Emma Herrock, state officials now recommend that individuals consult with their doctors before deciding whether or not to get vaccinated.⁴

The statement said:

In general, the department is shifting away from one-size-fits-all paternalistic guidance to a more informative approach aimed at enabling individuals, in consultation with their doctor, to make better decisions for themselves.

 The statement added that the department was also “reevaluating” its priorities and transferring its focus from vaccination to “reducing overdose deaths, maternal mortality, and the burden of chronic disease.”⁵ The statement said that Louisiana’s Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, MD had “expressed personal concerns about the efficacy and safety of the COVID vaccine, and that the department’s stance is that use of any vaccine, along with practices like mask wearing and social distancing, are an individual’s personal choice.”⁶

Louisiana Surgeon General Emphasizes Personalized Health Choices

Dr. Abraham, a family physician and former congressman, was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health by Governor Jeff Landry in January 2024. Later, in June 2024, the governor named him the state’s first surgeon general, a position created as part of a restructuring of the health department. As the state’s Surgeon General, Abraham serves as the department’s chief medical officer and leads its efforts on disease prevention.⁷

In a September 2024 committee meeting of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, Abraham said that, had he been in charge of the state’s COVID-19 response, he would have handled “just about everything differently.”⁸ He said:

Nearly every intervention attempted by government has been ineffective, counterproductive and antithetical to the core principles of a free society. Mask mandates, lockdowns, forced closures of churches, schools and businesses, coerced vaccinations, and suppression or intimidation of those who resisted are just a few examples of policies endorsed by the previous administration, which I opposed then and still oppose now.⁹

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