Mayor LaToya Cantrell expanded New Orleans indoor vaccine requirement Thursday to children ages 5 to 11 and — and in a separate move — the New Orleans public school system announced a new Vaccine mandate for all students age 5 and older.

The indoor mandate will go into effect Jan. 3, when children will be required to show proof of at least one vaccine dose. On Feb. 1, four weeks before Mardi Gras, the requirement will be two doses.

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The school requirement goes into effect Feb. 1, Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. said.

New Orleans is the first city in the U.S. to announce a school vaccine requirement for children as young as five. Only Los Angeles United School District — the nation’s second largest — has imposed a similar mandate for children ages 12 and up. After an initial December deadline, the school district pushed back the start date to fall 2022 because 28,000 students had not complied.

Dr. Jennifer Avegno, head of the New Orleans Health Department, said she expects some pushback from parents. Louisiana has laws that allow for religious or philosophical exemption from required school immunizations, along with a medical exemption.  “The exemptions for immunizations are so broad in Louisiana that if you don’t want this, you can sign the form,” said Avegno.

“Our parents favor immunizations. I’m sure some folks will be unhappy, but they have the ability to opt out.”

Earlier this week, Gov. John Bel Edwards moved forward with adding the COVID-19 vaccine to Louisiana’s list of required immunizations for schoolchildren. That rule will go into effect in the 2022-2023 school year, but not until the vaccines move from emergency use authorization to full approval.

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(Excerpt from Citizen Free Press. Photo Credit: Getty Images)