Alarmed Louisiana Residents Turn to Vaccines in ‘Darkest Days’ of Pandemic

Louisiana is leading the nation in an explosion of new cases. Hospitals are overflowing and admitting more young people than before. But the crisis is also driving some to get vaccinated.

HAMMOND, La. — Officials in Louisiana have been willing to try just about anything to jolt the state’s lagging Covid-19 vaccination rates, from a $1 million cash giveaway to a public service announcement featuring the recent 14-year-old national spelling bee champion. But when Madeline LeBlanc relented and got her first vaccine dose this week, she was motivated by something entirely different: fear. After seeing news reports about the Delta variant raging across the state, Ms. LeBlanc, 24, had come to see that without a vaccine, she risked not just her own life but those of others around her. “I don’t want to be the one inhibiting someone else’s health,” said Ms. LeBlanc, who lives in Baton Rouge.