Gov. Jeff Landry has named Baton Rouge OB/GYN Dr. Evelyn Griffin to be Louisiana’s next Surgeon General. As Louisiana Public Radio reports, Dr. Griffin is associated with both the anti-abortion and health freedom movements in Louisiana.
Dr. Griffin was hand-picked by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve on his vaccine advisory panel. It voted to end the decades-long policy of recommending the Hepatitis B vaccine for all infants at birth — which protects against liver diseases and cancer. She has also raised questions about the link between vaccines and autism — which has been widely debunked.
Public trust, or lack of it, continues to be a theme in health information news coverage, as the graphic (see below) graphically displays along political party divisions in the United States. The graphic comes from KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, which describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonprofit health policy organization in the U.S., providing research, polling, and journalism on major health issues.
Griffin will take over for Dr. Ralph Abraham, who has been named the CDC's second-in-command. As surgeon general, Abraham banned the promotion of all vaccines. He also waited months to warn physicians after a whooping cough outbreak killed two babies. Griffin praised Abraham’s leadership in a statement.
She said she is quote: “committed to safeguarding the integrity of the patient-doctor relationship by upholding informed consent and respecting individual rights.” The statement did not say when Griffin will assume her new role.”
