The Wall Street Journal Opinion Article is Factually Incorrect Regarding Louisiana Vax Law
But we absolutely agree that ANY vaccine mandate heightens school (and work) inequity.
We absolutely agree with the premise of this Wall Street Journal Opinion piece, Covid Vaccine Mandates Heighten School Inequity, Black children are less likely to have received the shots, which have little pediatric benefit to the otherwise healthy, by Drs Eliza Holland and Nikki Johnson. As a matter of fact, we think ALL vaccine mandates, not just covid vaccine mandates, heighten racial inequity in school AND work. Note our response to Governor John Bel Edwards’ then Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications’ obtuse tweet about the increase in covid vaccine uptake in December of 2021, the month federal vaccine mandates went into effect:
One of the reasons our organization exists is to preserve an individual’s right to dissent from unwanted medical interventions, including vaccinations, although covid insanity has brought other procedures to the forefront like masking, testing, and confinement. We are fully aware that all covid restrictions have caused considerable racial and gender inequity in our state and find it terribly concerning that our governor and the democrat party in Louisiana fully endorse the insanity (and weak RINO Republicans do nothing to stop it).
New Orleans is Louisiana’s epicenter of illegal, unscientific, and unethical medical mandates, leading the nation in implementing a citywide covid vaccine passport policy for children as young as FIVE in February 2022. That’s also when the New Orleans parish’s school vaccine policy for children as young as FIVE went into effect. As we noted in this video, the Louisiana Department of Health granted approval for 86 NOLA city schools to require the unlicensed, non-FDA approved drug for children as young as five just ten days after State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter stated schools would not require the covid vaccine until they had full licensure by the FDA.
We absolutely agree with the premise of the WSJ Opinion article, more-so in fact, as we adamantly oppose the vaccine mandates established in years past in states like Mississippi, West Virginia, California, New York, Maine, and Connecticut, where religious or philosophical exemptions have been removed, leaving students with only a medical exemption option. These mandates violate strongly held beliefs - including those based on the historical scars of medical atrocities performed in the past against minority communities, most especially the black community. Many are familiar with the heinous Tuskegee experiments, but there were more including the measles vaccine experiment from 1989 - 1991 in Los Angeles that targeted babies in the black and hispanic communities, where parents were not informed that the vaccine being administered was in fact experimental. Sound familiar? Read Jill’s article about how emergency use authorized vaccines are experimental HERE.
Again, we absolutely agree with the premise of the WSJ Opinion article, that medical mandates heighten school (and work) inequity — it is unfortunate, though, that Drs Holland and Johnson did not get the facts right about the Louisiana law regarding school vaccination requirements. For instance they state: “In neither city are exceptions made for kids who have immunity from prior infection, which provides good protection against severe illness.” RS 17:170 does in fact recognize “evidence of prior immunity”:
A.(1)(a) Each person entering any school within the state for the first time, including elementary and secondary schools, kindergartens, colleges, universities, proprietary schools, vocational schools, and licensed day care centers, at the time of registration or entry shall present satisfactory evidence of immunity to or immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases according to a schedule approved by the office of public health, Louisiana Department of Health, or shall present evidence of an immunization program in progress.
The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and schools requiring covid vaccination are violating the statute by not appropriately acknowledging evidence of prior immunity, not informing parents of that option, and instead acting as though vaccination is superior to natural immunity.
We are also incredibly fortunate in Louisiana to have one of the best school vaccine exemption laws in the country which simply allows a parent or student to “dissent” from any vaccine requirement for any reason:
E. No person seeking to enter any school or facility enumerated in Subsection A of this Section shall be required to comply with the provisions of this Section if the student or his parent or guardian submits either a written statement from a physician stating that the procedure is contraindicated for medical reasons, or a written dissent from the student or his parent or guardian is presented.
Granted, it is a battle to get exemption information in the hands of parents and students as most schools are not forthcoming about the entirety of the law. We have led attempts to make full disclosure of the law a legal requirement but have been opposed by those who do not value informed consent or are under pressure from Governor Edwards.
Nevertheless, schools in New Orleans are bound by RS 17:170, which means they are required to accept satisfactory evidence of immunity or a “written dissent” for the covid vaccine requirement.
It is extremely important to note: in granting permission for schools to require covid vaccination, LDH violates RS 17:170 A.(1)(a) which requires that the illness be “vaccine-preventable.” Covid is NOT a vaccine-preventable disease.
While we have an exceptional law intended to protect an individual’s right to determine what medical interventions are best for their family, we have a failure in leadership in our state health agency as well as in the legislature which fails to keep LDH in check.
You can read our letter written to the Louisiana Legislature after New Orleans passed the discriminatory vaccine passport policy HERE.
