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The chapter signed on to an open letter to patients in response to the Louisiana Surgeon General directing staff to not promote mass vaccination events

March 7, 2025 (ACP) -- The Louisiana chapter of the �������ý recently joined other medical organizations in opposing a ban in the Louisiana Department of Health on promoting mass vaccinations.

The Louisiana Surgeon General recently called for an end to staff engagement in mass vaccination efforts, including community health fairs, partnerships and media campaigns encouraging vaccination. In a separate letter, he also came out against blanket government vaccine mandates and criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention push for COVID-19 vaccination.

In response, the ACP Louisiana chapter and other medical organizations, including the Louisiana State Medical Society and Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians, wrote an open letter to patients in Louisiana urging them to talk to their physicians about vaccines.

“The physicians of this state felt compelled to say something directly to patients,” said Dr. Celeste Newby, an assistant professor at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. “Vaccines are still available despite the push to roll back mass vaccine events.”

There is strength in numbers, she said. “All of these organizations are very clear about vaccine evidence-based efficacy and safety,” Newby explained. “We have to work with our community to get the message put forward. Our goal is to help patients. We want our community to be healthy and patients to stay out of the hospital.”

Canceling mass vaccination events reduces access to care and fuels existing health disparities, added Dr. Angela McLean, governor of the ACP Louisiana chapter and professor of clinical medicine at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. “If we print out the schedule of where vaccine vans will be, it makes it easier, particularly for shift workers or those workers with no days off, to get the vaccines when they come to them.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) also issued a statement challenging the Louisiana Surgeon General's calls to cease the promotion of mass vaccination events, saying the policy “ignores the reality of people's lives. … Things like vaccine fairs keep a child from having to miss school and a mother from having to miss work. That is the reality of today's medicine. To say that cannot occur and that someone must wait for the next available appointment ignores that reality. Advertising the benefit of vaccines and where to get them helps parents improve the health of their child. It's important information they may not have known or needed to be reminded of. Removing these resources for parents is not a stand for parents' rights. It prevents making health care more convenient and available for people who are very busy.”

Physicians in every state can and should help spread the message that vaccines have proven track records regarding safety and efficacy and can save lives, Newby and McLean noted.

“You should definitely be working with advocacy groups and your state medical society, and patient stories are really important,” Newby said. “Talk about the things that you have personally seen and the consequences because our general public has not seen a lot of the potential downsides to not receiving vaccinations.”

Referring to the recent measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico, McLean added: “It is timely to see these outbreaks in neighboring states. It is a wake-up call about what can happen when people don't have access to vaccines.”

Back to the March 7, 2025 issue of ACP Advocate