Vaccine confusion reigns as whooping cough, COVID spread in Louisiana
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As Louisiana faces a high COVID-19 rate and increasing whooping cough cases, the latest federal guidelines are creating confusion around who can get vaccines and where.
Why it matters: Fall brings the start of the traditional season for respiratory illnesses.
Threat level: Louisiana was just recently one of the states with the highest number of COVID cases, and wastewater data shows its presence remains "very high."
- And provisional CDC data indicates that whooping cough (pertussis) cases are still rising in Louisiana, with 376 reported so far this year.
- COVID vaccines reduce the risk of infection and helps protect against severe illness or death, according to the CDC. They are recommended seasonally, and early autumn is the best time to get a booster, according to the Yale School of Medicine.
- Whooping cough can be prevented by the Tdap vaccine, which the CDC recommends for pregnant women and children around age 11. Adults can get boosters every decade.
How it works: Louisiana law allows pharmacies to provide vaccines without prescriptions as long as they're recommended by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, according to the Times-Picayune.
Yes, but: With Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new rules issued late last month, many pharmacies started requiring COVID vaccine prescriptions for most adults. Go deeper.
- And despite urging from Sen. Bill Cassidy, who cited Louisiana's whooping cough outbreak and the two babies it's already killed, Kennedy has yet to publicly back the vaccine available to prevent it. The University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy says declining vaccination rates are a chief cause for the outbreak.
What we're watching: The CDC's ACIP meets Thursday and Friday, and the panel is expected to vote on COVID vaccine recommendations, among others.
- If the group votes to rubber-stamp Kennedy's COVID rules, then "that would take away access for roughly half of America's kids," Sean O'Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics told the AP.
Zoom in: The panel's members include a Louisiana doctor who the Times-Picayune reports has been skeptical of vaccines.
Flashback: Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham ended the state's mass-vaccination efforts last year and banned the Louisiana Department of Health from promoting seasonal vaccines. Go deeper.
Editor's note: This piece was updated to clarify that the COVID vaccines can reduce the risk of infections and protect against severe illness.