Vaccine Notification to Parents – A Breath of Fresh Air Is Here

Guest Post – Kathy Edmonston, State Representative from District 88 representing Ascension Parish and is a founding member of the Louisiana Freedom Caucus.

The people of Louisiana should be filled with hope this week as the new legislative session begins. We seek to throw off the failed governance of John Bel Edwards and his followers, bringing forth the new era of Governor Jeff Landry. Our great legislature will have their opportunity now to help get the government out of the way, so Louisiana’s stagnant economy can now thrive and flourish.

We must also never forget about the actions of Edwards during his handling of COVID. The destruction of our individual freedoms, and more specifically the rights of parents, must be addressed so we can make sure nothing like what Edwards inflicted on the people of Louisiana can ever happen again.

This is one of the reasons I am again bringing back my vaccine notification bill this session which will stop tyrants like Edwards from hiding the truth about what the law is in Louisiana. My bill, HB47, requires that schools must provide information on the procedure to submit for vaccine exemptions any time they communicate with parents about vaccine requirements.

Louisiana law, RS 17:170E allows for a parental opt out process, yet schools do not inform parents of their choices. In the over 20 years I worked in the education system, I saw firsthand that no one was being fully informed about these parental prerogatives that impact their children’s health and life–not the teachers, not the administrators and most certainly not the parents. My vaccine bill will change that.

This is the third time I have offered this bill. Last year it passed both the House (unanimously) and the Senate, and went to Edwards desk where it was vetoed. In the House we managed to vote to override, but the override vote failed in the Senate.

Jill Hines reported in her Health Freedom Louisiana bulletin last week, we have some great news out of BESE on this issue of transparency. State School Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley indicates “health freedom” is a priority for his department and BESE as well. By unanimous vote, BESE will voluntarily include this information in their vaccine bulletins.

BESE members voted unanimously to update Bulletin 741, the handbook for both public and non-public schools, to require schools to provide parents with vaccine exemption information any time vaccine requirements are made known. We see this as a positive and proactive move on the part of Dr. Brumley, who in the past has made sure that a BESE representative testified for legislation that would make this information available as a matter of law.

We must not stop there. We must codify this informed consent requirement into law so tyrants like John Bel Edwards cannot go back to keeping parents in the dark. Governor Jeff Landry will sign this informed consent bill into law.

What a breath of fresh air.