(KLFY) The Louisiana attorney general is speaking out in hopes of stopping the governor’s proposal for COVID-19 vaccines to be required in schools.
Governor John Bel Edwards’ proposal would mandate students from K-12 to take the vaccine.
This comes as Attorney General Jeff Landry is already in the process of filing three lawsuits against president Biden for what he says are unlawful vaccine mandates.
On September 20, Governor Edwards, through the Louisiana Department of Health, proposed a rule to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all students in pre-k through 12th grade.
Although it’s just a proposal for now, AG Jeff Landry is already threatening to legally challenge this new law if it’s passed.
“I have also written the legislature, laying out instructions on how to curtail this latest overreach and abuse by the governor,” Landry said.
In the letter to the legislature, Landry says the vaccine mandate would infringe upon people’s constitutional and civil rights.
He says the proposed law is a bullying tactic to pressure parents and children to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It is my hope that our elected representatives act in the protection of our medical freedoms,” he added.
Landry isn’t just fighting state-wide vaccine mandates, though. He’s also part of three lawsuits against the federal government.
One of those suits has been successful so far, putting a halt to a nationwide vaccine mandate that would require businesses with at least 100 employees to vaccinate their employees.
Landry is also involved in two other lawsuits against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal employees, as well as a vaccine mandate for anyone who receives Medicare or Medicaid funding.
“Whether it is an illegal mandate by the president or an overreach by the governor, our office will stand up to government abuse and bullying,” Landry said.
He says if the governor’s proposal to place the COVID-19 vaccine on the list of required immunizations for students passe, that mandate will be legally challenged as well.
“To the president and the governor, coercion is not consent. Medical decisions for our children should be made by parents, not bureaucrats,” he added.
There will be an oversight hearing on December 6 with the House Committee on Health and Welfare to discuss the proposed mandate for students.
The health care committees in the House and the Senate can vote together to reject the mandate, but unless the governor agrees, the law will go into effect.
