LSU Dental School backtracks, won't require COVID vaccines amid concerns over religious liberties
LSU's School of Dentistry backtracked on mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for students, faculty and staff who interact with patients after some argued the requirement violated federal law and compromised religious liberties.
Dentistry Dean Robert Laughlin wrote in an email last week that those "involved in direct patient care will be required to show proof of having received full vaccination for COVID-19," effective Monday, March 22.
But after an outcry among students, Laughlin amended the policy to allow those who forgo a vaccination to instead undergo mandatory, weekly coronavirus testing, with the added requirement that they wear an N-95 mask while in clinic.
"It is not my intention to force any individual to receive a vaccine they wish not to receive," Laughlin wrote in a follow-up email. "The School of Dentistry will comply with all [Americans with Disabilities Act] and religious objections according to the law."
The sudden change in policy comes as health care providers across the country weigh tactics to convince both the public — and their own workforce — of the importance of getting the life-saving jab.
So far, at Louisiana's hospitals, that hasn't included mandates, though vaccine uptake remains a challenge. At Ochsner Health System, which has about 32,000 employees statewide, vaccine acceptance is at 56.3%, according to a hospital representative.
The about face at LSU's School of Dentistry came shortly after the Liberty Counsel, an evangelical Christian nonprofit based in Florida, sent a letter to Laughlin calling the mandate a "violation of fundamental individual, economic and religious liberties." It noted that "some people hold sincere religious beliefs against taking vaccines in general" or taking vaccines derived from stem cell lines obtained during abortions.
More than a dozen state lawmakers also sent a letter to Laughlin criticizing the mandate, and in response to their concerns, Laughlin sent along the revised policy and said that he spoke at length with Attorney General Jeff Landry over the issue.
“We thought it was a complete overreach of a state university to mandate a vaccine,” said Rep. Kathy Edmonston, R-Gonzales, in an interview, who added that some students she spoke with viewed the testing mandate as cumbersome as well.
The Liberty Counsel also pointed out that under federal law, individuals must be given the "option to accept or refuse" products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through Emergency Use Authorization — like the three available coronavirus vaccines. That point was reiterated in August by Dr. Amanda Cohn, who sits on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
"I just wanted to add that, just wanted to remind everybody, that under an Emergency Use Authorization, an EUA, vaccines are not allowed to be mandatory. So, early in this vaccination phase, individuals will have to be consented and they won't be able to be mandated,” Cohn said.
Dr. Susan Hassig, an associate professor of epidemiology at Tulane University, said that vaccines authorized for emergency use typically aren’t mandated until they receive full approval given how many questions remain about their long-term effects.
“You generally would not mandate something that is not fully vetted and approved in the most complete sense by the FDA,” Hassig said. “We don’t know how long it's going to protect us for, or when we might need a booster shot.”
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