When there’s an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable illness, state well being officers usually take sure steps to alert residents and difficulty public updates in regards to the rising risk. That’s customary apply, public well being and infectious illness consultants advised KFF Well being Information and NPR. The aim is to maintain as many different susceptible folks as attainable from getting sick and to remind the general public about the advantages of vaccinations.
However in Louisiana this 12 months, public well being officers appeared to haven’t adopted that playbook through the state’s worst whooping cough outbreak in 35 years.
Whooping cough, additionally known as pertussis, is a extremely contagious, vaccine-preventable illness that’s significantly harmful for the youngest infants. It may possibly trigger vomiting and hassle respiration, and severe infections can result in pneumonia, seizures, and, not often, demise.
Madison Flake, a pediatric resident in Baton Rouge, cared for a child who was hospitalized throughout this 12 months’s outbreak. Lower than 2 months previous, he was despatched to the intensive care unit.
“He would have these bouts of very dramatic coughing spells,” Flake mentioned. “He would stop breathing for several seconds to almost a minute.”
Infants usually are not eligible for his or her first pertussis vaccine till they’re 2 months previous, however they’ll purchase immunity if the mom is immunized whereas pregnant.
By late January, two infants had died in Louisiana.
However the Louisiana Division of Well being waited two months to ship out a social media submit suggesting folks discuss to their docs about getting vaccinated. The division took even longer to difficulty a statewide well being alert to physicians, ship out a press launch, or maintain a information convention.
That lag shouldn’t be typical, in accordance with Georges Benjamin, the chief director of the American Public Well being Affiliation.
“Particularly for these childhood diseases, we usually jump all over these,” mentioned Benjamin, a doctor who has led well being departments in Maryland and Washington, D.C. “These are preventable diseases and preventable deaths.”
As a result of infectious illnesses unfold exponentially, if officers don’t alert the general public shortly, they lose a key likelihood to stop additional infections, mentioned Abraar Karan, an teacher at Stanford College who has labored on covid and mpox outbreaks.
“Time is perhaps one of the most important currencies that you have,” he added.
Normal Promotion of Vaccines Banned
As a result of pertussis vaccine immunity wanes over time, circumstances can ebb and stream. However in September 2024, Louisiana well being officers began seeing a “substantial” enhance in whooping cough circumstances, a part of a nationwide development.
In late January, physicians at one Louisiana hospital warned their colleagues that two infants had died within the outbreak.
On Feb. 13, the state’s surgeon common, Ralph Abraham, despatched a memo to employees ending the final promotion of vaccines and group vaccine occasions.
He despatched that electronic mail a number of hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, gained Senate affirmation as the brand new secretary of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers.
Additionally that day, Abraham posted a public memo on the state well being division’s web site. In it, he mentioned public well being has overstepped with vaccine suggestions, pushed by “a one-size-fits-all, collectivist mentality.” Abraham has known as covid vaccines “dangerous” and been a vocal supporter of Kennedy.
4 days later, in response to a request from WVUE Fox 8 Information in New Orleans, the Louisiana Division of Well being in an electronic mail confirmed the deaths of two infants from whooping cough for the primary time. WVUE printed the information on Feb. 20.
However Louisiana’s well being division despatched out no alerts, in accordance with a evaluate of exterior and inner communications by NPR and KFF Well being Information.
Over the subsequent month, two extra infants had been hospitalized for whooping cough, in accordance with inner well being division emails obtained by means of a public data request.
In March, after inquiries from NPR and KFF Well being Information in regards to the rising variety of pertussis circumstances, the division put out its first social media communications in regards to the outbreak and provided interviews to different journalists.
Then on Could 1 — no less than three months after the second toddler demise — the well being division issued what seems to be its first and up to now solely official alert to physicians. It put out its first press launch the subsequent day after which held a information convention about pertussis on Could 14.
By then, 42 folks had been hospitalized for whooping cough because the outbreak started, three-quarters of whom weren’t updated on their whooping cough immunizations, in accordance with the Louisiana Division of Well being.
Greater than two-thirds of these hospitalized had been infants beneath the age of 1.
All through the summer season, pertussis circumstances continued to climb in Louisiana. However there have been no additional public communications from the state well being division.
NPR and KFF Well being Information contacted the division for touch upon Sept. 25. Emma Herrock, a spokesperson, didn’t reply particular questions in regards to the lack of communications however referred to a Sept. 30 submit on X by the state surgeon common.
Within the submit, Abraham mentioned the division “consistently reported cases of pertussis and provided guidance to help residents stay protected” in 2025. He known as the pertussis vaccine “one of the least controversial” and mentioned he recommends it to his sufferers.
The X submit included a year-by-year graphic of pertussis circumstances that omitted 2024 and 2025. The submit additionally supplied a extra particular timeframe for when the toddler deaths occurred — one in late 2024 and the opposite in early 2025.
A ‘Train Wreck’ of Circumstances
Louisiana ought to have began warning the general public inside days of the primary toddler’s demise as a substitute of ready months, mentioned Stanford’s Karan.
“At minimum,” he mentioned, “it should be like heavy promotion of: ‘Hey, infants are at high risk. They get infected by people who have waning immunity. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated, get vaccinated. If you have these symptoms, get tested.’”
Deaths from a vaccine-preventable sickness are tragic, however they’ll additionally function a possibility to teach the general public about the advantages of vaccines and attempt to save lives, mentioned Joshua Sharfstein, a former Maryland well being secretary and now a professor on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being.
“The risk of pertussis is always there, but when you have two infant deaths it’s a really good opportunity to communicate that this is a real threat to the health of children,” Sharfstein mentioned.
Karan mentioned that by not appearing extra shortly, the Louisiana Division of Well being could have set itself up for a worse outbreak.
“Because then what we see is this train wreck thereafter, of like an insanely large outbreak, a lot of hospitalizations,” he mentioned.
The Outbreak Continued
As of Sept. 20, the newest date for which information is offered, Louisiana had counted 387 circumstances of whooping cough in 2025, in accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. In information going again to 1990, the earlier excessive was 214 circumstances, in 2013.
Till the Sept. 30 submit on X, the Louisiana Division of Well being didn’t seem to place out any public communications about pertussis over the previous 4 months, although hospitalizations continued and case ranges surpassed the 2013 ranges.
The well being division needs to be responding aggressively and persistently, mentioned Joseph Bocchini, the president of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Well being officers ought to be sure that “people are updated on a regular basis and reminded of what needs to be done,” he mentioned. “Get your vaccines. Moms, if you’re pregnant, get vaccinated. And if you have a cough illness, see your doctor.”
Benjamin, with the American Public Well being Affiliation, mentioned the continuing aim of public well being communication is to stop the subsequent hospitalization or demise.
“The bottom line is, it’s not too late,” he mentioned. “It’s not too late to be much more aggressive and proactive about dealing with pertussis.”
This text is from a partnership that features WWNO, NPR, and KFF Well being Information.
