\u201cState sponsored weakening of the citizenry, absolute injury to our children and calculated decline of fertility,\u201d Higgins wrote on X. \u201cThe New Orleans Health Department \u2026 whoever the hell they are \u2026 should be 100% defunded, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics. I will immediately pursue restriction of every federal penny that might make its way to this soon-to-be writhing band of sorcerers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Jennifer Avegno, leader of the city’s health department, said the agency would continue to provide vaccine information to residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The health department has a responsibility to provide evidence-based information to our community, and for decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics has provided evidence-based vaccination recommendations,” Avegno said. “We want to make sure that our community has access to those and is aware of them so that they can have the conversations that they need to have with their doctors.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The AAP said its recommendation is based on evidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Higgins, who represents Louisiana\u2019s 3rd Congressional District, has been a vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccines and public health mandates. It remains unclear what steps he may take to advance his defunding proposal in Congress. His office did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kim Broussard, a retired RN volunteer, prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center COVID-19 vaccination clinic Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at the Frem Boustany Convention Center in Lafayette, La.<\/p>\n
STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK<\/p>\n
The New Orleans Health Department is funded largely through federal grants. The agency supports a vast number of services in the city: maternal and child health care, immunizations, HIV and STD programs, behavioral health support, anti-hunger programs, housing safety and violence prevention. It also is the agency in charge of coordinating the city\u2019s response to hurricanes, heat waves and disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended COVID-19 vaccination for all children ages six to 23 months on Tuesday, based on data that infants and toddlers face the highest risk for severe illness and should be prioritized. For children and adolescents ages two to 18, the Academy advised vaccination for those at higher risk or unvaccinated, while also supporting access for any family that wants their child protected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe extensively reviewed the most recently available data about COVID-19 risks in kids, as well as safety and effectiveness of available COVID-19 vaccines,\u201d said Dr. Sean O\u2019Leary, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases. \u201cIt’s clear they are very safe for all populations. Among the reasons we decided to move to a risk-based recommendation for healthy older children is the fact that the hospitalization rate for young children and children with underlying medical conditions remains high, in line with rates for many of the other vaccine-preventable diseases for which we vaccinate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The AAP recommendations typically align closely with the CDC. But in May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced major changes that dropped the COVID vaccine recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women. Soon after, the CDC updated its schedule to partly align with that announcement, saying kids 6 months to 17 years could still get the vaccine \u201cbased on shared clinical decision-making\u201d between parents and doctors.<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 vaccine has been proven to be safe in children and adults, with minor side effects such as soreness at the injection site.<\/p>\n
Serious reactions, such as a severe allergic reaction or myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, are rare. Myocarditis is mostly seen in young males at about 40\u201370 cases per million second doses, and is usually mild and less common than heart complications from COVID-19 infection itself.<\/p>\n
Current research and public health guidance show no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility in women or men, with studies confirming no effect on conception or semen quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, said Wednesday he will seek to strip federal funding from the New Orleans…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":164435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12351,210,471,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-164434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-hardwall","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-no","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115068154890354498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}