Louisiana Exemptions for School Vaccine Requirements
Know Your Parental Rights
No Shots, No School, Not True!
Before we talk about the Louisiana exemptions for vaccine requirements for school, it’s important to know how this came to be, a brief history lesson if you will. In the 1980’s cases of severe brain injury following DTP (diptheria, tetanus, pertussis) vaccination were increasing and parents began suing the vaccine manufacturers. In fact, there were so many cases that the “lawsuits against vaccine companies and health care providers threatened to cause vaccine shortages and reduce U.S. vaccination rates“. Congress, in their wisdom, chose to protect the vaccine manufacturers instead of holding them accountable and demanding safer vaccines. They cowered to the pharmaceutical industry and bought into the (baseless) fear that without vaccines people would die, completely ignoring the fact that the industry was producing a product that was severely damaging children and ruining their lives. And so The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 was passed, removing product liability from the vaccine manufacturers – meaning, you can not sue them for injury or death caused by their products. As is the case with many laws, note how the name of the law makes you think it’s doing something good when in reality it not only not addresses the problem it purports to solve, but it makes it worse. Much worse, indeed.
With the threat of lawsuits removed, vaccine manufacturers have no incentive to make safe or effective products. And with lobbying the federal and state legislatures to require vaccines – the pharmaceutical industry is the largest lobbying industry spending more than double than oil & gas – vaccines have become a cash cow for them. It is no coincidence that since the 1986 Act was passed the number of vaccines “recommended” by the CDC have skyrocketed, more than tripling from 24 doses of 7 different vaccines to more than 73 doses of more than 16 different vaccines. Along with the exponential increase of vaccines, so too have the rates of childhood chronic illness and developmental disabilities exponentially increased, going from 12.8% in 1988 to 54% in 2011.
- Removed product liability from vaccine manufacturers – you can’t sue them for injury or death from vaccines.
- Established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program – vaccine injury claims against vaccine manufacturers cannot be filed in state or federal civil courts, but instead must be heard in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, with unique rules and procedures known as “vaccine court”:
- You go up against HHS (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services) with attorneys from the DOJ (Department of Justice) (you read that right – the government becomes the defense attorneys for the vaccine industry)
- No right to discovery
- No jury
- What was intended to provide simple and quick justice to victims has done anything but that, as explained here by a Stanford scholar.
- Required healthcare providers who administer vaccines to report certain vaccine injuries. (We know this doesn’t happen from a CDC funded study which found that less than 1% of vaccine adverse events are reported.)
Louisiana Exemptions Explained
*This page applies to exemptions to vaccine requirements for schools, colleges, universities, and daycares. For exemptions to EMPLOYER vaccine mandates please visit our Religious Exemptions to Employer Vaccine Mandates page.
There are 3 main types of exemptions for school vaccine requirements: medical, religious, and philosophical/personal belief. In Louisiana, we are extremely fortunate that the law pertaining to schools and daycares doesn’t specify nor limit what kind of exemption facilities may accept. In fact, it’s so basic and straightforward that you don’t have to provide a reason, you simply state that you’re opting out, a “written dissent”.
So you don’t have to say why you’re using an exemption; you just submit a written statement stating that you are. You must, however, turn in an exemption at the beginning of each school year.
You can see the law in its entirety here; the exemption paragraph is Section 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.
Louisiana Exemptions Apply to ALL Daycares, Schools, Colleges
Public, Charter, Private, or Catholic - They MUST Accept Your Exemption!
You read that right. It doesn’t matter if they receive state funding or not. ALL licensed daycares and ALL schools MUST accept your exemption. This includes public, charter, private, Catholic, Christian, vocational schools, medical schools, nursing schools, etc.
Unfortunately, many administrators are misinformed. Usually though, upon notifying them of the law (mention it specifically: R.S. 17:170, read as “revised statutes seventeen one seventy”) they comply. If you’re met with resistance, it may help to print out the law and attach it to the exemption, though it’s not necessary.
How do we know it applies to ALL schools? Here’s the text taken from the statute: 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. . . Chief administrators of all elementary and secondary schools, kindergartens, colleges, universities, proprietary schools, vocational schools, and licensed daycare centers whether public or private within this state. . .
Attorney General Jeff Landry spells it out beautifully in a memorandum directed to “all Louisiana citizens, especially parents and guardians of school aged children”:
It is important for parents to understand that while schools may adopt policies that are reasonable and necessary to protect students and others, these policies may not be designed in such a way that defeat the right to dissent from a vaccine requirement. Furthermore, these policies may not be discriminatory, punitive, and retaliatory towards a child or a parent that dissents from a vaccine requirement for their child. It is just as important for parents and educators to remember that our State Law and our State Constitution enshrine students with extensive religious and philosophical protections … Louisiana Revised Statute 17:170 regulates immunization requirements for all Louisiana public and private schools, including elementary and secondary schools, kindergartens, colleges, universities, proprietary schools, vocational schools, and licensed day care centers.
And yet another reference you can use is the Louisiana Department of Health website – they specifically talk about immunization exemptions for school vaccine requirements: “There is no requirement for the document to be notarized, and all requests are granted.”
If once informed they still refuse to comply with the law, contact your state representative/senator (find yours here). Sometimes all it takes is a phone call or two. And of course, Health Freedom Louisiana is here to help as well!
Exemptions Do NOT Need to Be Notarized
Don’t do it!
Just like exemptions for school vaccine requirements, if the daycare or school tells you it must be notarized, they are wrong. Reference the law, Revised Statutes 17:170 (specifically Section E where it states what you need to submit and notes there is NO mention of a requirement to notarize) and the Louisiana Department of Health’s statement on their website affirming what the law declares: “There is no requirement for the document to be notarized, and all requests are granted.”
So please don’t get it notarized. It’s not necessary nor warranted by the law. We actually have had to fight daycares and schools that try to demand that because it places an unnecessary burden on the parent and the bottom line is the law doesn’t require it. It just has to be a “written statement of dissent”. We don’t want to train administrators into thinking the exemption is not acceptable or official or legal if it’s not notarized.
* For Anyone Battling Schools or Licensed Daycares on Exemptions
If they make any reference to the law/statute (R.S. 17:170) in their handbook or correspondence you’ve got them.
When you sign registration forms and the handbook, you are in essence signing a contract with the school. Enter some contract law:
To reference the statute (R.S. 17:170) WITHOUT informing parents that students are afforded exemptions under that same law (Section E) misleads parents into thinking they have no other option except fully vaccinating according to the CDC schedule.
⚠️WHETHER IT’S BEING DONE BY ERROR OR FRAUD IT DOESN’T MATTER.
It’s still illegal and vitiates (impairs the legal validity of) consent, according to Civil Code Articles 1948, 1949, and 1953:
💥Any contract made based upon misrepresentation of the law is subject to nullification due to a vice of consent, either by error, fraud, or duress. (CC 1948)
💥Error vitiates consent only when it concerns a cause without which the obligation would not have been incurred and that cause was known or should have been known to the other party. (CC 1949)
💥Fraud is a misrepresentation or a suppression of the truth made with the intention either to obtain an unjust advantage for one party or to cause a loss or inconvenience to the other. Fraud may also result from silence or inaction. (CC 1953)
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If it’s concerning specifically the MENINGOCOCCAL vaccine requirement, that’s even easier! Because we fought hard to get that bill amended and we won! R.S. 17:170.4 not only states that you have exemptions but that THE SCHOOL MUST INFORM THE PARENT OF THE ABILITY TO FILE AN EXEMPTION:
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As for the “We’re a private/Catholic school so we don’t have to accept exemptions” argument:
➡️ As mentioned above, for general vaccine requirements, R.S. 17:170 states that it applies to BOTH public AND private schools (emphasis mine):
💥In the very first section, Section A, of the law it states “ANY SCHOOL”.
💥In Section D it states “WHETHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE”.
💥In Section E (the exemption clause) it states:
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.
➡️ For the meningococcal vaccine requirement, R.S. 17:170.4 states that it applies to BOTH public AND private schools (emphasis mine):
💥In Section A it states “local PUBLIC school or NONPUBLIC school”
💥Under Chapter 11 Health §1101. Immunization the entirety of the vaccine requirement law, R.S. 17:170, is stated, including the right to an exemption.
💥Under Chapter 1 Operation & Administration §107. School Approval section F it states:
Accredited schools shall be approved by BESE for the duration of such accreditation, up to five years. BESE approval shall be reviewed in the school year following the renewal of such accreditation. Each accredited, approved school shall annually demonstrate to the LDE that the school meets the health, safety, and welfare requirements as established in this bulletin…
What does all that mean? If the school is denying your right to an exemption, in addition to violating the law, they are ALSO violating BESE’s handbook which could put their license in jeopardy.