Louisiana's Health Department Changes Direction on Flu Shots

Late December generally qualifies as the holiday season, but that’s not the only thing in the air. Unfortunately, one of the other things in the air is influenza; yes, we are indeed in the middle of the 2024-25 flu season. And if you visit the CDC’s website, you’ll see their recommendation that “everyone six months and older get a flu vaccine if they have not yet this season.”

The CDC isn’t the only regulatory body tasked with reducing the spread of disease, and one state agency has taken a somewhat unexpected approach to reducing the spread of the flu. (This is putting it mildly.) As Elizabeth Bourgeois of the Baton Rouge-based television station WAFB reports, Louisiana’s Department of Health has stopped recommending that all residents of the state get an annual flu shot.

“[T]he department’s stance is that immunization for any vaccine, along with practices like mask-wearing and social distancing, are an individual’s personal choice,” the state DOH told WAFB via a statement — a statement that also noted that the state’s Surgeon General, Dr. Ralph Abraham, “has expressed personal concerns about the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Predictably enough, one of the effects of Louisiana’s shift in guidance is an increase in flu cases in the state. Writing at Ars Technica, Beth Mole reports that, according to the CDC’s state-level data, Louisiana is one of two states to reach “Very High” levels of influenza this flu season.

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Mole also observed that Louisiana “is seeing an early surge in influenza” compared with the rest of the country. It’s possible that this could all be coincidence — but it sure seems like this increase in flu cases has something to do with the state’s health agency de-emphasizing the importance of flu shots for all residents.