December 26, 2024

You don't need a masters degree in public health to have seen this mess coming. Via Arstechnica:

Flu season is ramping up across the US, but Louisiana—the state that has reportedly barred its health department from promoting flu shots, as well as COVID-19 and mpox vaccines—is leading the country with an early and strong surge.

Louisiana's flu activity has reached the "Very High" category set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the latest data. The 13-category scale is based on the percentage of doctor's visits that were for influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) in the previous week. Louisiana is at the first of three "Very High" levels. Oregon is the only other state to have reached this level. The rest of the country spans the scale, with 13 jurisdictions at "High," including New York City and Washington, DC. There are 11 at "Moderate," 10 at "Low," and 19 at "Minimal."

Last week, NPR, KFF Health News, and New Orleans Public Radio WWNO reported that the state had forbidden the health department and its workers from promoting annual flu shots, as well as vaccines for COVID-19 and mpox. The policy was explicitly kept quiet and officials have avoided putting it in writing.

Flu surges in Louisiana as health department barred from promoting flu shots by dumb fuck antivaxxers.

Yeah! (@newsview.bsky.social) 2024-12-24T01:04:17.992Z

New Orleans tells Louisiana to go fuck itself on banning state health officials from even discussing vaccines for flu, Covid, and mpox.

The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit.bsky.social) 2024-12-22T22:20:49.241Z

The GOOD news is that bird flu and the banning of vaccine promotions AND us having the highest flu rates in the country has masks making a major return in Louisiana. I been seeing em everywhere.

I said two weeks ago: people are more cowardly than they are ignorant

Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH (@geauxgabrielle.bsky.social) 2024-12-25T02:37:32.638Z

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