Louisiana’s top health official said in an internal memo to the state’s Health Department on Thursday that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses.
The official, Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, wrote in the memo that the state would “encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider” but would “no longer promote mass vaccination.”
The letter came on a day when the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has raised questions about vaccines, as the new U.S. health secretary. But it was not clear if the memo had come in response to the change in federal leadership.
“Vaccines should be treated with nuance, recognizing differences between seasonal vaccines and childhood immunizations, which are an important part of providing immunity to our children,” wrote Dr. Abraham, a former Republican congressman.
A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health did not immediately respond on Thursday night to questions about the scope of the directive and how it might affect the distribution of vaccines.
The Health Department in New Orleans, Louisiana’s largest city, quickly said that it would not follow the state’s lead.
“We will continue to strongly promote childhood and seasonal vaccination, and expand our efforts locally to fill any gaps left by the state’s new direction,” Dr. Jennifer Avegno, the director of the New Orleans Health Department, said in an email.
The city’s Health Department is the only one in the state that operates independently from the Louisiana Department of Health.
In his memo, Dr. Abraham said that the state Health Department would also stop promoting vaccinations through “partnerships” and “parish health units.”
He wrote that state health officials should not instruct “individuals to receive any and all vaccines” but instead should provide data about the reduced health risks associated with receiving vaccinations.
“For many illnesses, vaccines are one tool in the toolbox of ways to combat severe illness,” Dr. Abraham wrote, adding that state health officials should focus on “meeting people where they are.”
During the Covid pandemic, Louisiana had among the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, and health care workers there struggled to combat misinformation about the safety of coronavirus immunizations.
On Thursday, Dr. Abraham also issued a pointed public statement with his deputy surgeon general, Wyche T. Coleman, criticizing how state and federal health authorities had responded to the pandemic.
Dr. Abraham and Dr. Coleman wrote that the implementation of vaccine mandates had been “an offense against personal autonomy that will take years to overcome.”
In June, Dr. Abraham was appointed as Louisiana’s surgeon general by the state’s governor, Jeff Landry, a Republican. Last year, Mr. Landry replaced John Bel Edwards, the Democratic governor who led Louisiana through the pandemic. Mr. Edwards fought state lawmakers and Mr. Landry — then the state’s attorney general — to implement vaccinate mandates.
Dr. Abraham did not mention Covid in his memo on vaccination, which was provided by Dr. Pete Croughan, the department’s deputy secretary.
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans previously reported on the memo.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Thursday night.
Louisiana is experiencing a surge in flu this winter.
Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.
