Louisiana Voice

Just had bad has it gotten, really?

Mitch McConnell as the voice of reason bad, that’s how bad.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was confirmed – barely – as secretary of Health and Human Services Thursday with only one Republican dissenting vote, that of Mitch McConnell.

Kennedy, of course, is probably the world’s most famous – or infamous – conspiracist, now heading up the agency charged with looking out for the nation’s health while proclaiming that the vaccines that virtually eradicated smallpox, measles, and polio are a lot of hooey.

McConnell, himself a polio survivor, voted no on Kennedy’s confirmation, saying that “a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts.”

McConnell displayed light years more integrity and courage than Louisiana’s two senators, Dr. Bill Cassidy and John “Foghorn Leghorn” Kennedy, both of whom voted thumbs-up.

And as if on cue, we have an outbreak of MEASLES in Gaines County, Texas, which, coincidentally, just happens to have one of the highest rates of vaccine exemptions in the Lone Star State. Every one of the two-dozen people who have been identified with measles in Gaines County are (ahem) unvaccinated. And measles the most contagious infectious known to humans.

Many vaccines have been developed by scientists against the spread of rubella, influenza, rotavirus, tuberculosis and typhoid.

And yet…and yet, Louisiana’s very own surgeon general, Dr. Ralph Abraham, on Thursday (Feb. 13) issued an edict to state health workers to cease promoting seasonal vaccines such as influenza and pneumonia and posted on the Department of Health website a letter criticizing the state’s COVID response.

Now bear in mind that Abraham is a doctor…sort of. He’s also a veterinarian and owner of two pharmacies in northeast Louisiana which had received nearly 1.5 million opioid doses from 2006-2012, according to political blogger LAMAR WHITE, JR. One of those pharmacies, White said, Adams Clinic Pharmacy in Winnsboro, used three different DEA identification numbers.

He’s also the one who had the knucklehead idea to bring Mike the Tiger into LSU’s Tiger Stadium before a screaming crowd of 100,000, apparently to lead the fans in a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or the Ten Commandments. When LSU officials balked at the idea, one was actually rented and hauled all the way from Florida to make some silly point.

But now the man who dispensed opioids liberally is now instructing DH employees to restrain from recommending vaccines in favor of simply providing data and encouraging Louisiana residents to consult their health care providers.

But…but…you ARE the state’s health care provider now, Dr. Oatmeal for brains.

Parish health units, he assures us, will continue to stock vaccines but they aren’t allowed to promote mass vaccination.

“Rather than instructing individuals to receive any and all vaccines, LDH staff should communicate data regarding the reduced risk of disease, hospitalization, and death associated with a vaccine and encourage individuals to discuss considerations for vaccination with their healthcare provider,” Abraham wrote in his communication, obtained by The New Orleans Advocate. 

Abraham was appointed by Jeff Landry who seems to fancy himself as some sort of hybrid of Huey Long and Donald Trump, but without the charm of either.

Landry deftly deflected inquiries about the new directive, the first such that has been reduced to writing. Instead, he referred questions to the Department of Health, which, of course, would never speak up without a nod from Landry and most certainly would never be critical of any program promoted by the administration despite the face that “Staff at Louisiana’s health department fear the new policy undermines their efforts to protect the public, and violates the fundamental mission of public health: to prevent illness and disease by following the science,” according to NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.

Mitch McConnell as the voice of reason. Who’da thunk it?