Health and Welfare Committee rejects LDH’s vaccine proposal for most school children

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A proposal by the Louisiana Department of Health to require the COVID-19 vaccine for most school children drew lots of attention to a Louisiana House Health and Welfare Committee meeting on Monday, Dec. 6.

LDH proposed for the COVID-19 vaccine to be added to the School Immunization Schedule only for ages that have received full licensure and approval from the FDA, which currently is 16 and up. Officials added full licensure and approval from the FDA signify the very highest endorsement of safety and efficacy from the US government.

The Health and Welfare Committee voted 13-2 Monday afternoon to reject LDH’s vaccine proposal.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has the authority to override the committee’s decision. It is not immediately clear if he will use his override authority.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry tweeted out a statement in support of the committee’s vote on Monday.

“I applaud the Legislature, who just voted in bipartisan manner and in agreement with our legal advice that COVID-19 is not a ‘vaccine preventable’ disease’ and that the executive actions of LDH went beyond their statutory authority. We also want to thank the hundreds of Louisianans who came to the Capitol today and had their voices heard. These types of policies should be decided by the people through their representatives not by medical czars or by executive fiat. We challenge the Governor [Edwards] to accept the will of the people,” Landry said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Gov. John Bel Edwards released the following statement:

This is a developing news story. WAFB will update this story when more information is available.

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