In a surprising announcement, the Louisiana general surgeon announced Thursday evening that the State Health Department “will no longer promote mass vaccination”.
In a memo to staff members, Dr. Ralph Abraham described vaccines as “a tool in a toolbox” to combat serious illnesses and that conversations on specific vaccines are better bound between an individual and their supplier of health care.
He comes in the heels of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Confirmation to direct the Ministry of Health And human services Under President Donald Trump. Kennedy has Distribute allegations not based on vaccinesIncluding that they cause autism and that some vaccines are “dangerous”.
Dr. Gregory Poland, vaccinologist and co -director of the Attria Research Institute – which focuses on disease prevention – described the change of policy as “anti -science” and said that there are good health research data public to support mass vaccination.
“I grew up at a time when other than the smallpox, the DPT and the flu vaccine, we had none of the vaccines we had today, and therefore we, or our friends, we were Infected, fell ill, missed, some in polio development, “he told ABC News.” I mean, it’s just shocking to think that we will take such a critical public health tool and that that We deconstruct it or invalidate it. I can’t believe it. “
A health professional is seen to vaccinate a person.
Adobe photo / stock
Dr. Paul offer, director of the Vaccine Education Center and attending physician of the infectious disease division of the children’s hospital in Philadelphia, said that the non-promotion of vaccinations could lead to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths, especially if a Incredibly contagious disease epidemic, such as measles, emerges.
“On its surface, it makes no sense,” said ABC News. “If there was an epidemic of measles, for example, and it started to sweep the state … you would say then:” No, you can do what you want. If you want to get a vaccine, very good. If you are not, it is good, “knowing that there are people in the state of Louisiana who cannot be vaccinated, knowing that they depend on those around them to protect them?
Offer said that the change in promotion of vaccines in Louisiana seems to approve the idea of medical freedom and individual freedom concerning collective responsibility, which is “dangerous”.
He explained that vaccines not only protect the individual, they protect the community by creating the immunity of the herd, in which a sufficient community is vaccinated, which makes the spread of a disease more difficult. This also protects those who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.
“This kind of idea of medical freedom you do what you want, the rest of the company does not count, your neighbor does not count, is at best short -view and, at worst, you lack all kinds of responsibility societal, “said Offer. You do it and take advantage of it, and they benefit “from vaccines.
Poland has said that not promoting mass vaccination could cause the resurgence of preventable diseases that overwhelm the health care system.
He explained that there is currently a shortage of health professionals, and the current health care system may not be ready to manage an increase in the number of patients with complications from vaccine preventable diseases.
Poland has added that many younger health professionals may not be familiar with the symptoms of these diseases because they are so rare.
“Our current harvest of doctors, they have never seen measles, they have never seen a rubella, they have never seen the polio, they have never seen a diphtheria,” he said . “I mean, it will overload the health care system and lead to an inadequate and bad quality of care.”
In a separate press release and published publiclyAbraham said that it was necessary to reconstruct the confidence on the part of COVVI-19 “erroneous” and that people have less confidence in institutions such as the centers for disease control and prevention in relation to the stuck vaccination requirements.
The representative Ralph Abraham leaves the meeting of the Républicaine conference of the Chamber at the Capitol on Wednesday, June 6, 2018.
Bill Clark / Getty images, file
Offer agrees that confidence is low in public health establishments, but says that not promoting mass vaccinations will not help people regain their confidence and can make people still lose confidence.
“There are anti-vaccine doctors, who are perfectly ready to say things that are not supported by science; it is not surprising,” he said. “But what is surprising here is that now you have intensified a level.
“And if the goal is to earn more credibility, this will not happen,” said Office. “All that will do is play in the idea that when we push the vaccination of everything to protect the few who cannot be vaccinated, it was not bad, and it was not bad. It was good. “