LOUISIANA: Requiring COVID shots for school attendance in Louisiana violates state law
Tell your house rep to reverse course and support HB182 which removes the option for any school to require COVID shots.
Our Stand: At-A-Glance
- HB182 is headed to the Senate Education Committee next week. The next step is to send an email to the committee asking them to support this critical bill.
- Requiring COVID shots for school attendance in any Louisiana school violates RS 17:170 which states that vaccination requirements are specific to diseases that are vaccine-preventable. COVID is not a vaccine-preventable disease. As Health Freedom Louisiana noted in a letter dated October 14, 2021, to former Louisiana Secretary of Health Dr. Courtney Phillips, R.S. 17:170(A)(1) is specific to diseases that are vaccine-preventable. The clinical trials for the various COVID-19 shots were not designed to determine if the drugs prevent transmission or infection and yet State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter granted approval for requests from approximately 100 schools to require COVID shots before they were even approved by the FDA.
- Today, some Louisiana colleges and universities still require COVID shots for entry. Even now, when more and more data shows the harm outweighs the benefit, in New Orleans alone, 86 schools require COVID shots for children as young as 5 years of age.
- No FDA-approved COVID shots are available in Louisiana. In 2021, lawmakers passed legislation to prohibit the requirement of a COVID shot authorized for emergency use (EUA), but it was vetoed by Governor Edwards. To date, no FDA-approved COVID shot product has been available in Louisiana, meaning all COVID shots administered in Louisiana are EUA. Requiring COVID shots while still under EUA ignores the will of the legislature and the people it serves.
- According to an amicus brief filed by Children’s Health Defense, requiring COVID shots for school attendance is scientifically unjustified. The brief states:
“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 [U.S. Food and Drug Administration (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. “Finally, with the rise of Omicron, the vaccines have become wholly ineffective at preventing infection, and hence vaccination will not prevent children from catching COVID and spreading the disease to others. Indeed, even as of August 2021, prior to enactment of Louisiana’s mandate, the Director of the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] itself admitted that ‘what [the vaccines] can’t do anymore is prevent transmission.’”
- The fact that Louisiana has a liberal exemption law is moot because schools are notorious for not providing exemption information. This is an egregious form of coercion. Parents and students have been manipulated into getting COVID shots as the exemption information has not been provided by schools.
- Take action today to ask your state house rep to support Representative Kathy Edmonston’s HB182, which simply removes the option for any school to require COIVD shots. Parents are free to make the choice without any coercive measures imposed by schools. HB182 does not prevent any parent from seeking any medical care they deem necessary.