Governor John Bel Edwards wants to add the COVID-19 vaccine to a list of required shots needed to attend K-12 schools. The new rule would initially only apply to students 16 and up at the start of the 2022 school year because it’s only FDA-approved for that age group. “I think it’s just really important to embrace the science, and really it’s also important to not engage in misinformation and there’s an awful lot of that out there as well,” said Edwards.
The move is opposed by mostly GOP lawmakers who met today for an oversight hearing to stop the proposal.
Edwards says because it’s been approved by the FDA for those 16 and older, the public needs to be reminded that in order to receive such approval it’s been thoroughly tested. Edwards says, “We should all be able to understand that there have been clinical trials and that this is a safe and effective vaccine for these populations.”
Edwards says it’s also part of a larger effort to battle the pandemic. “Since the first of August, at least 25 percent of all known cases of COVID-19 in Louisiana have been in children 18 or below,” according to Edwards.
Meantime, a House Health And Welfare Committee meeting is underway, receiving public input from the governor’s plan to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required shots needed to attend K-12 schools. Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder voiced his opposition to adding the vaccine to attend schools. He says, “parents should not be forced to go through the process of jumping through hoops to opt their children out of going through the COVID shot. Let me say that as clearly as possible, the COVID-19 shot should not be added to be required for schools.”
Attorney General Jeff Landy says the proposal of adding the vaccine to the shot schedule is an overreach of the Louisiana Department of Health because they are also dictating who can attend K-12 public schools. “Only the school has the authority to exclude students from attendance, not the Louisiana Department of Health,” said Landry.
Anti-vaccine activist and attorney Bobby Kennedy Jr, a guest of Landry, attended the hearing and told the committee instead of a four-year study, the Pfizer vaccine trial ended at six months and was given authorization by the FDA. He told those gathered, “they unblinded it and gave the vaccine to the entire placebo group. What that means is that we will never know what the long-term difference will be between the vaccinated and unvaccinated and that the long-term injury caused from this we will never know.”
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