The way i understand your code, you are trying to convert a php multi dimensional array to a simple js array.
You have to use json_encode
and array_column
<?php
$lead = array(
array(
'followup_date' => '9-3-2018',
),
array(
'followup_date' => '14-3-2018',
),
array(
'followup_date' => '15-3-2012',
)
);
?>
<script>
var unavailableDates = <?php echo json_encode( array_column( $lead, 'followup_date') ); ?>;
console.log( unavailableDates );
</script>
This will result to
["9-3-2018", "14-3-2018", "15-3-2012"]
http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-column.php