The anti-vaccination crowd celebrated this week’s news that Dr. Joe Kanter is stepping down as Louisiana’s chief medical officer. In his role with the state health department, Kanter led efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged the public to get the vaccine.
He did so out of a sense of duty and without flinching as critics increasingly questioned the proven science behind the policy he enforced.
His departure was reason to rejoice for the science deniers who have been re-energized since Republican Gov. Jeff Landry won his election on promises he would stand firm against any public health measure he deems an encroachment on freedom. As attorney general, he took every opportunity to challenge and lash out at then-Gov. John Bel Edwards for the Democrat’s executive orders to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Louisiana officials’ continued emphasis on vaccinations has been in question since Landry’s election and his subsequent appointment of Dr. Ralph Abraham as state health department secretary. Kanter announced his exit less than two months into Abraham’s tenure.
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Abraham, a former congressman and 2019 governor candidate, was a practicing physician before he took his seat in the U.S. House and a veterinarian before that.
Early in the pandemic, Abraham supported the off-label use of drugs to treat COVID that lacked federal regulatory approval, indicating he was open to alternatives at a time when researchers still hadn’t developed a vaccine.
“There are times when certain drugs need to be tried that have worked even anecdotally, give the patient the option, let them and their doctor make an informed decision,” Abraham told the Louisiana Radio Network in March 2020.
With regards to vaccines, there was an encouraging message from Abraham’s agency last week when it announced two cases of measles had been diagnosed in the New Orleans area. The Louisiana Department of Health reported that the infected individuals had not been immunized, and officials encouraged the public to obtain the MMR vaccine, calling it “highly effective and safe.”
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It remains to be seen if there will be a similar message regarding COVID-19 vaccines, as the virus continues to mutate into new strands and pose a public health threat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending a booster for older adults.
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Rep. Raymond Crews. (LAI photo)
If Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, had his way, Abraham and the health department would disregard the CDC’s recommendation.
Crews said as much Tuesday during a meeting of the House Health and Welfare Committee where Abraham made his first legislative appearance since taking his new job. The state representative took a shot at how the health department under the Edwards administration followed the federal health agency’s advice.
“It seemed to me the CDC told us what to do, and we went with it,” Crews told Abraham.
Crews also shared his dismay during the pandemic over health care professionals not being familiar with “experts,” whose names he shared in the committee meeting. They are:
Dr. Pierre Kory, a physician who lost his certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine for “spreading false or inaccurate medical information.” He advocated for the off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID, despite multiple studies showing the risk of using the antiparasitic. Kory also falsely claimed the COVID vaccine could adversely affect pregnancies and fertility.
Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who also championed the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, a lupus and arthritis drug, to treat COVID. He insisted people under 50 didn’t need the COVID vaccine and falsely attributed an excessive number of deaths to the vaccine. McCullough also disputed the need for vaccines to achieve herd immunity from COVID, relying instead on people catching and surviving the virus.
Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, a Belgian veterinarian who sought to undermine confidence in the COVID vaccine, saying it will lead to “a global catastrophe without equal,” in order to promote his own “universal vaccine.” Immunologists have discredited Vanden Bossche’s supposed cure.
Dr. Robert Malone, a physician popular in far-right circles who has conveyed conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID. He has also spread misinformation about vaccines.
“I mention those names, and they act like they’ve never heard of them,” Crews said.
That might be because the doctors he’s confronted are reputable and embrace data-driven, peer-reviewed science over dangerous quackery. Or those doctors might just have had the same response Abraham did after Crews’ comments: silence with a polite smile.
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For the sake of public health, let’s hope our new health secretary doesn’t become an echo chamber for such medical misinformation, even when it supports the political agenda of his boss.
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Nick Albares ran a close third in the Louisiana Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and has until Tuesday (May 19) to decide whether to seek a recount. He finished less than 300 votes short of making a June runoff.
Though many Democrats voted in Saturday’s primary, political analysts still think the general election race to replace Sen. Bill Cassidy will be the Republican candidate’s to lose.
Political newcomer Jamie Davis finished first in the Democratic primary with 47.4% of the vote. Gary Crockett placed second, making the runoff with 26.3% of the vote. Albares came in third at 26.2% and must now decide whether to finance a recount.
“We are going to talk to our team. We’re going to look at every angle,” Albares told Fox 8 on Saturday night.
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Davis received 163,507 votes, just 16,000 shy of what Rep. Julia Letlow pulled in leading the Republican primary.
“He (Jamie Davis) didn’t spend a lot of money, hardly any money at all,” Dillard University political analyst Dr. Robert Collins said. “He didn’t go on television or have any radio ads or anything like that.”
But Collins predicted that even if Davis wins the June 27 Democratic runoff, he will have a tough time in the November general election.
“I don’t see any path forward for him right now, just realistically,” Collins said. “It’s a red state, and he’s going to be running against a very well-known public official that’s going to have millions of dollars and the endorsement of the president of the United States.”
Albares has until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to seek a recount, but it could be expensive — up to $750 in each parish where a recount is sought, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
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“Any candidate can request a recount, but you have to pay for it,” Collins said.
Fox 8 asked the Albares campaign if a recount will be requested, but has not received a response.
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The Republican candidate for the District 1 seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission will now be determined in a June runoff between a state lawmaker and a past parish president.
State Rep. Stephanie Hilferty and attorney and policy consultant John Young bested three other candidates in Saturday’s Republican primary with 28 percent and 31 percent of the vote, respectively. Since neither got more than 50 percent of the vote, the race to represent the New Orleans suburbs on the PSC advances to a June 27 runoff.
The winner will face Democrat Connie Norris, who was unopposed in her party’s primary, and Chris Justin, an engineer running as an independent, in November’s general election.
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Hilferty and Young both vowed to serve as watchdogs against excessive utility spending. They edged out state Rep. Mark Wright, who finished third with 24 percent of the vote.
Sen. Bill Cassidy’s primary loss Saturday brings to an end a two-decade career in public office that was ultimately defined by tensions with President Donald Trump.
Cassidy failed to advance in the Republican primary in Louisiana, as Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming are projected to head to a June 27 runoff.
The result marks another trophy for the president’s collection in his ongoing bid to oust Republicans perceived as disloyal to him.
Throughout Cassidy’s career, there were occasional signs that the physician-turned-politician wasn’t quite in lockstep with his party on a handful of issues, including around health care. But Cassidy’s cardinal sin, in the eyes of the Trump and his supporters, was voting in 2021 to convict the then-former president on impeachment charges of inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6.
Sen. Lindsey Graham says status quo in the Strait of Hormuz is ‘hurting us all’
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday called for more U.S. military action in Iran.
“I think the status quo is hurting us all. The longer the [Strait of Hormuz] is closed, the more we try to pursue a deal that never happens, the stronger Iran gets,” Graham told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Graham’s comments come amid a pause in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, which have not yet led to a deal to end the war.
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Somalia is among the most exposed to ripple effects from the Strait of Hormuz crisis. The East African nation was already facing one of its worst food security crises in years.
Now, poor rains and renewed climate shocks are again pushing harvest expectations down, while global supply chain disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict are pushing up fertilizer and food costs, the world’s leading body on hunger warned.
Notable quote
If they go to war in the Pacific, what you are witnessing now in the Strait of Hormuz is just a dry run.
Singaporean Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan
As the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz drags on, guardians of another critical waterway are worried about the precedent it sets for any potential future clash between the United States and China. The Strait of Malacca carries more than a quarter of global trade, including most of the oil that flows from the Persian Gulf to key Asian markets
‘Meet the Press’
Former FBI Director James Comey said he has “complete faith in our judicial system” as he faces an ongoing federal case over a 2025 Instagram post.
The judiciary is “the genius of our founders,” Comey told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
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“It’s frankly the only leg of our three-legged stool that is still standing in the U.S. government, but it’s standing tall and straight,” he added. “It is the guardian of the rule of law, and I believe in it.”
Politics in brief
Ballroom bill: The Senate parliamentarian said that the GOP budget bill, which aims to fund ICE and Border Patrol alongside $1 billion for the White House ballroom, needs to be rewritten to account for jurisdictional issues.
Gauging the mood: NBC News spoke to roughly 30 Republican National Committee members and GOP activists around the country about how the party can keep control of Congress in November.
Dropping hints: Pennsylvania’s 7th District has been close to evenly split in recent elections. This year, the Democratic primary is also sending signals about what matters to the party.
On Gaza border, Israeli hard-liners lay out their desire to settle Palestinian territory
Right-wing Nachala movement settlers march near the Gaza border near Kibbutz Nir Am, Israel, in April. Erik Marmor / Getty Images
A river of Israeli flags winds through a desert path as hundreds of people march toward the border in a display of their determination to build new Jewish settlements atop the rubble of northern Gaza.
Daniella Weiss, founder of the radical right-wing settler group Nachala, sums up the crowd’s intentions.
“We are here on the way to new Jewish communities in Gaza,” she told NBC News in an interview at the border in late April.
“What we did in Judea and Samaria, we are going to do the same thing here,” Weiss added, a reference to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where illegal Jewish outposts and settler violence against Palestinians have grown dramatically in recent years.
Last month, Aws al-Nasaan, 14, was gunned down in broad daylight in the small Palestinian village of Al-Mughayyir, in the occupied West Bank. The boy’s blood still stained the sidewalk in front of his school days after an Israeli settler shot him dead.
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Napoleon Solo almost didn’t race. Thanks to a jockey’s suggestion, it won the Preakness.
Imagn Images; Getty Images
Before winning the 151st Preakness Stakes, Napoleon Solo almost wasn’t entered in the race known as the middle jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
The horse had competed twice this year and finished fifth both times. It was after the second race that jockey Paco Lopez told owner Al Gold and trainer Chad Summers that there was more to Napoleon Solo’s potential than its most recent finishes indicated.
“Paco told Chad … to go to this race,” Gold said on the NBC Sports broadcast. “I didn’t want to come here. I didn’t think this horse could go this far.”
The faith paid off, and Napoleon Solo overtook favorites Taj Mahal and Iron Honor for the Preakness.
Got maggots? These doctors are bringing the bugs into their practice on purpose
Leila Register / NBC News; Getty Images
The lowly maggot gets a bad rap, mostly known for feeding on corpses and rotting meat. But modern medicine is giving its reputation new life — as a tiny surgeon.
Polly Cleveland, of New York City, turned to so-called maggot therapy in 2023 when she was caring for her late husband, Tom, who developed sores after a hospital stay.
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“You get this little vial with these teeny, tiny little maggots on a piece of gauze,” Cleveland said. “I stuck the maggots in, and by golly, they did their thing” cleaning up the wound.
The thinking is straightforward: Diseased and dying tissue must be removed from wounds in order to prevent infection. To maggots, this dead tissue is food, and they are able to remove it precisely and painlessly.
In case you missed it
The Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho was locked down Sunday following a midair collision during a local air show that sent two fighter jets crashing to the ground.
Thai police charged a train driver with negligence after a crash on Saturday in central Bangkok killed eight and injured 32.
Bulgaria triumphed for its first win at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, held under the shadow of controversy over the continued participation of Israel.
A Canadian who was a passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which is set to dock Monday in the Netherlands, has tested positive for the Andes hantavirus.
A passenger on board the plane that crashed into the ocean off the coast of Florida last week has been arrested on cocaine smuggling charges.
SpaceX is preparing to launch a new version of its megarocket — a prototype of the system NASA could use to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface.
