Louisiana House committee OKs bill to expand liability for COVID-19 vaccine mandates

The Louisiana House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure advanced a bill Monday that would allow businesses and public entities that require the COVID-19 vaccine to be sued. 

House Bill 87, by Rep. Mike Echols, R-Monroe, would allow those required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend school or work to sue if they are injured as a result of the vaccination. 

The language in Echols bill is extremely broad and could be used to seek financial remedy for a variety of harms. Echols said this was by design, as he hoped the bill would discourage vaccine mandates. 

In presenting his bill, Echols made multiple references to the “tyrannical government” during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“For the last three years, there has been no consequence for people to jam government down our throats,” Echols said. 

Echols claimed there have been thousands who have experienced adverse responses to the vaccine, referencing “hundreds upon hundreds” of people who have reported such reactions. Multiple studies have found such reactions to be extremely rare.

Medical experts consider the COVID-19 vaccine to be safe. The vaccine rarely causes serious injury. Submissions to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System are self-reported and do not necessarily indicate the injury was related to the vaccine. Vaccine critics consider this a weakness of VAERS, though data still bear out the extremely low risk of the vaccine.    

Several Republicans on the committee expressed interest in expanding Echols’ proposal to apply to other vaccines. 

Others falsely claimed COVID-19 is not vaccine-preventable. Like other common vaccines, the shot for COVID-19 reduces the risk of viral transmission but cannot totally prevent it. It also reduces the severity of the disease once contracted. 

K-12 public schools in Louisiana do not require the COVID-19 vaccine for attendance. Most public universities likewise no longer require it, although LSU Shreveport mandated it as recently as the fall semester.

A spokesperson for the university has not yet responded to a question regarding its policy for the current semester.