How doctors in Lousiania are getting more people to become vaccinated

Delta variant, Louisiana doctors, slowly cracking vaccine resistance The crowd inside Floyd's Family Pharmacy was abuzz with an agitated energy. Brad Brooks U.S.

PONCHATOULA, La. (Reuters) - The crowd inside Floyd’s Family Pharmacy was abuzz with an agitated energy.

Whether arriving for scheduled COVID vaccines or testing, people were motivated in part by fear of the Delta variant taking hold across the country as well as in this stately town surrounded by lush forests, strawberry fields and swamps an hour north of New Orleans.

Head pharmacist Floyd Talley was at the center of the action, one minute donning full protective gear to carry out nasal swabs in the parking lot. The next, he was back in his white jacket, fielding questions from moms about possible COVID symptoms their children displayed.

“There is a huge uptick in the request for vaccines,” Talley said. “We’re back almost to how we were when the vaccine first came out.”

Those lining up for jabs say many reasons had made them reluctant before, including questions about approval by the Food and Drug Administration and the loss of a sense of urgency when cases earlier started to fall. Other areas with low rates of vaccination - Louisiana has one of the lowest in the country - would be wise to recognize that motives can be mixed, doctors here said, and find innovative ways to address concerns.

Nobody in Ponchatoula is even considering a vaccine mandate - that would likely lead to a counterproductive backlash in this deeply conservative patch of a deeply red state.

Instead, local leaders have made it less convenient to pass up vaccination with such measures as a recent schools’ directive that unvaccinated teachers and students exposed to the virus would be forced to quarantine, with teachers not receiving any extra sick days as they did last year. ...

Louisiana State University said unvaccinated students would have to provide monthly proof of a negative coronavirus test. Pharmacist Talley said the prospect of that regular inconvenience prompted a rush of college kids to start coming for the vaccine.

While none of these measures is as straightforward and forceful as doctors in the area might want, they say they are beginning to have an impact. ...