Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has moved to dismiss a lawsuit against Gov. John Bel Edwards challenging the state’s COVID-19 vaccination rule for schoolchildren, now that the vaccine mandate has been officially rescinded.
In a Sept. 21 news release, the Attorney General’s Office indicated Landry had filed a motion in the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge to dismiss the case of Rep. Raymond Crews v. Gov. John Bel Edwards.
“Today is the culmination of hard work by so many concerned parents throughout Louisiana,” Landry said in a prepared statement. “This is the direct result of moms, dads, grandparents and guardians fighting for what is right. …”
He characterized the outcome as a victory for parental rights.
The action comes in the wake of the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) publishing amendments in the Louisiana Registry that remove COVID-19 vaccinations from the list of required immunizations for school entry. The rule was published in the registry, a monthly publication listing certified regulations and legal notices issued by the executive branch, on Sept. 20.
The LDH, however, paints a different picture of why the COVID-19 vaccination rule was amended. Earlier this year, the LDH strongly urged all eligible children to get the coronavirus vaccine but indicated it would not mandate the vaccine for schoolchildren.
“When LDH began the standard process of adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the school immunization schedule, we expected more age groups would have full (Food and Drug Administration) approval in advance of the 2022-2023 school year,” an LDH statement issued in May said. “The FDA has not yet fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those under the age of 16; therefore, at the start of the 2022 school year, students in Louisiana will not be required to be vaccinated against COVD-19.”
The department has faith in the FDA’s deliberations, but the process does take time, Kevin Litten, an LDH spokesman, said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
“The public health guidance remains unchanged,” Litten said. “(The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and LDH recommend everyone 6 months and up get vaccinated against COVID-19 and that everyone 5 years old and up get boosted as soon as they are eligible.”
The lawsuit notes that Gov. Edwards had endorsed the idea of adding the COVID-19 vaccination to the immunization scheduled after a legislative oversight committee rejected the rule as proposed. This represented an unconstitutional overreach of authority by the executive branch, the lawsuit argued.