Louisiana Names Vaccine Skeptic Evelyn Griffin Surgeon General After 2021 Covid Shot Fight
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 17
Louisiana Names Vaccine Skeptic Evelyn Griffin Surgeon General After 2021 Covid Shot Fight
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 17
Summary
Gov. Jeff Landry named Dr. Evelyn Griffin Louisiana surgeon general in December, elevating an obstetrician who emerged publicly during a 2021 fight over adding Covid vaccines to school immunization rules.
Five years ago, Griffin testified against that proposal at the statehouse, using arguments and images similar to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and later said media dismissal of vaccine skepticism triggered her "great awakening."
Kennedy, now U.S. health secretary, appointed Griffin last September to the federal vaccine advisory panel, where she backed limiting Covid vaccine access and ending universal newborn hepatitis B shots.
A federal judge has blocked those panel-backed changes, but Griffin now holds both state and federal roles that could help advance Kennedy's broader public health agenda.
How will a surgeon general opposing universal newborn vaccines navigate a state where most parents still support traditional school immunization rules?
What happens to established disease prevention infrastructure when a state's top health official actively campaigns against standard childhood immunizations?