Louisiana’s health leadership changes open the door to medical misinformation • Louisiana Illuminator

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.