Bottles of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
As a pediatric health care provider, it’s deeply disheartening to witness our state’s leaders squander an important opportunity to protect the health and safety of Louisianans —especially our children.
Recent hearings held by the House Select Committee on Homeland Security were supposed to be a chance to reflect on Louisiana’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and identify ways to strengthen our public health systems. Instead, these hearings became a platform for spreading falsehoods , conspiracy theories and dangerous anti-vaccine rhetoric.
The people of Louisiana deserve better.
Our state has faced tremendous challenges — from hurricanes to health crises — and the COVID-19 pandemic was yet another test of our resilience. What we need now is a commitment to learning from the past, improving our systems and preparing for the future.
Instead, we saw taxpayer dollars used to amplify deceptive anti-vaccine talking points that undermines public trust and endangers lives. The presence of so-called “experts” who were invited to push dangerous conspiracy theories in a formal government setting was not only irresponsible but deeply disappointing. Even more troubling were the statements made by our state’s surgeon general and deputy surgeon general, whose remarks only served to legitimize these baseless claims.