John Bel Edwards

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Mark Calkins, with the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, holds up a bag containing the first 10 syringes containing Pfizer Inc.'s coronavirus vaccine before it is administered to the staff in New Orleans, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (Max Becherer/The Advocate via AP)

Analysis: Edwards steers vaccine rollout, owns consequences

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Pharmacy director Heather Maturin unpacks vials of the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in a refrigerator at Ochsner Hospital on O'Neal Lane, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. (Bill Feig/The Advocate via AP, Pool)

Louisiana hospital bed shortage as COVID-19 surge worsens

By MELINDA DESLATTE and KEVIN McGILL - Associated Press

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, right, talks with Dr. Mona Moghareh, a pharmacist with Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson, La., as she sets up a station to administer the first vials of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Analysis: New Louisiana political year, with repeat debates

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Poydras Home resident Martha Treen gets the Moderna vaccine from CVS pharmacist Catherine Ramzy at the home on Magazine Street in New Orleans, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. Mrs. Treen was hospitalized for several months with COVID-19. Her husband was John Treen, who ran against David Duke. The two were hospitalized in the same room and he died in April. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Louisiana to start vaccines for ages 70 and over next week

By REBECCA SANTANA - Associated Press

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, with a sign language interpreter to his left, speaks at his latest briefing on COVID-19, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte)

Edwards keeps virus rules as COVID-19 hospitalizations surge

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Pharmacy director Heather Maturin unpacks vials of the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in a refrigerator at Ochsner Hospital on O'Neal Lane, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. (Bill Feig/The Advocate via AP, Pool)

Analysis: Tough choices about who’s next in line for vaccine

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting about the coronavirus with Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-La., in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Louisiana governor: Time for people to acknowledge Biden win

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

A UPS worker directs a vehicle transporting some of the first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020, on the tarmac at Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Mich., before they're loaded onto a UPS cargo jet to be distributed nationwide. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)

‘This is huge’: Louisiana gets its 1st COVID-19 vaccines

By REBECCA SANTANA and MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

FILE - This undated file photo issued by the University of Oxford on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, shows of vial of coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, in Oxford, England. New results released Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, on the possible COVID-19 vaccine suggest it is safe and about 70% effective. (John Cairns/University of Oxford via AP, File)

Louisiana governor talks vaccine plans at White House event

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Outside the LaPharmacy in Elmwood, La., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. Coronavirus tests are offered here and this location will eventually give the vaccine once it becomes available. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Analysis: Louisiana officials urge embrace of virus vaccine

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, with a sign language interpreter to his left, speaks at his latest briefing on COVID-19, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte)

Edwards fundraises for Democrats in Georgia’s Senate races

Associated Press

Admiral Brett Giroir, right, the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, looks at the coronavirus testing setup outside LaPharmacy in Elmwood, La., as Pharmacist Stacey LaBorde, center, stands near him as they two meet to discuss the coronavirus vaccine distribution on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Louisiana’s coronavirus vaccine plans starting to take shape

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Admiral Brett Giroir, right center, the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, talks with pharmacist Stacey LaBorde of LaPharmacy in Elmwood, La., to discuss the coronavirus vaccine distribution Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Louisiana expects 1st coronavirus vaccine doses this month

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announces toughened coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. The state is seeing its third spike in virus cases since the pandemic began. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte)

Analysis: Will people comply with La.’s tougher virus rules?

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

After talking about the importance of wearing masks, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards puts his mask back on at the end of the press conference updating the status of the state in regard to COVID-19, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. The state will continue to be in Phase 2 until Aug. 28. D (Bill Feig/The Advocate via AP)

As virus cases spike, Louisiana governor adds restrictions

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards speaks to reporters at a briefing on the state's efforts against the coronavirus pandemic in Baton Rouge, La., Monday, May 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Analysis: Edwards embraced veto pen for La. special session

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Work starts on $152M widening of I-10 in southwest Louisiana

Associated Press

Dr. Deborah Birx, right, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, speaks at a press conference along LSU interim President Tom Galligan, left, after one of several roundtable discussions with LSU officials and others, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020 in the LSU Foundation Training Room in Baton Rouge, La. (Travis Spradling/The Advocate via AP)

White House suggests tougher coronavirus rules in Louisiana

By MELINDA DESLATTE - Associated Press

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards speaks about the coronavirus, while Attorney General Jeff Landry, center, and LSU football coach Ed Orgeron listen, on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. A Louisiana judge on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020 rejected an effort by Republican state House members to force an end to Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ statewide mask mandate and other restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte)

Judge: GOP petition blocking virus rules is unconstitutional

By KEVIN McGILL - Associated Press