“Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration has agreed to remove the COVID-19 vaccine from the list of vaccines students are required to get to enroll in school in the state, officials said Wednesday,” AP reported.
Before the governor removed the insane mandate, Louisiana was the only state in the country to require students to take the COVID-19 jab for school attendance.
Louisiana is the ONLY state in the country right now adding the covid vaccine onto the required list for school attendance! https://t.co/wBRRy5spsa
— Jess Clarke (@JessClarke007) May 16, 2022
As the COVID vaccine for young children continues down the path to full FDA approval, @LADeptHealth won't add it to the school immunization schedule ahead of the upcoming school year. But the public health recommendation remains clear: COVID vaccinations protect kids. #lagov pic.twitter.com/2U4TZPpvjL
— Gov. John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) May 18, 2022
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Louisiana lawmakers failed to reverse the governor’s rule earlier this month.
AP reported:
The state health department said in a news release that it will continue to strongly recommend the vaccine, in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, but acknowledged that the vaccine had not yet received full U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for those under age 16.
“While we strongly recommend all eligible children be vaccinated against COVID-19 now, if they have not already been so, we are making this decision to give families and schools the time they need to prepare accordingly,” the news release said.
Because the vaccine is not fully approved for those age 15 and under, requiring it would have made little difference to most students in kindergarten through high school, Edwards noted during his monthly call-in radio show.
State Sen. Fred Mills, a Republican from New Iberia, announced on the Senate floor that the administration agreed to remove the requirement after meeting with legislators. Legislation that would have removed the COVID-19 vaccine from the requirement list had stalled earlier in the session.
“If a family wants to have their child vaccinated, there will be guidance,” Mills said.
Mills said lawmakers continued to hear from parents upset about the vaccine requirement.
Hats off to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who forced Gov. Edwards to back off this insane mandate.https://t.co/0A7vGvEne1
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 19, 2022
"Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration has agreed to remove the COVID-19 vaccine from the list of vaccines students are required to get to enroll in school in the state, officials said Wednesday." https://t.co/eMIuVfHPAk
— Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (@AAPSonline) May 19, 2022
The Defender added:
Commenting on the governor’s announcement, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), said:
“The science shows this age group is at zero risk from COVID-19 and at high risk of debilitating and sometimes deadly vaccine injury.
“The only thing driving these mandates is the deceptive campaign of orchestrated fear and deliberately induced confusion carried out by reckless and incompetent health officials, their Big Pharma overlords and the gullible politicians who do what they are told rather than conduct their own independent research.”
Kennedy added, “Hats off to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who forced Gov. Edwards to back off this insane mandate.”
Landry in December 2021 sued the governor in a bid to block the addition of the COVID-19 vaccine to Louisiana’s immunization schedule for schools and colleges.
CHD on March 16 filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit, arguing the data do not support mandatory COVID-19 vaccines and it is scientifically unjustifiable to impose the requirement on children.
About 4,700 Louisiana parents joined CHD in filing the brief.
According to the brief:
“Simply put, the COVID vaccines have not been shown to be either effective or safe for children. The benefits to children are minuscule, while the risks — including the risk of potentially fatal heart damage — are ‘known’ and ‘serious,’ as the [FDA] itself has acknowledged.
“Moreover, it is undisputed that the existing COVID vaccines do not prevent COVID — at best they reduce the incidence of severe disease outcomes — and hence COVID is not a ‘vaccine-preventable’ disease; as a result, COVID vaccines cannot be made mandatory for school attendance under express Louisiana statutory law.”
Landry wasn’t alone in trying to block the mandate — Louisiana’s House Health and Welfare Committee in April filed a resolution to repeal it.
However, in a 4-3 vote, the committee on May 11 rejected the resolution, allowing the mandate to stand until Wednesday’s announcement by the governor.
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