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Louisiana Lawmakers Move to Analyze Data on Vaccines and SIDS
With the House passage of Sen. Patrick McMath’s SB29, “A Voice for the Voiceless,” Louisiana becomes only the second state to include vaccine history in the autopsy of a child who dies suddenly and without a clear explanation. Only one hurdle remains for SB29, but we are confident Gov. Jeff Landry will sign this landmark piece of legislation.
By Health Freedom Louisiana
Sen. Patrick McMath, chair of the Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee, introduced two meaningful bills this session aimed at providing comfort for grieving parents across the state.
In addition to Senate Bill 29 (SB29), SB32 establishes a Perinatal Bereavement Care Initiative within the Louisiana Department of Health to support families experiencing the loss of a child.
While SB32 focuses on compassionate support for families after loss, the effort to ensure grieving parents also receive transparency and complete information during death investigations has been years in the making.
That journey began in 2020 when Rep. Beryl Amedee introduced House Bill 468 (HB468), which would require vaccine information to be included in the legally required investigation of infants 12 months of age or younger who died suddenly and without explanation.
A review by Health Freedom Louisiana (HFL) of the coroner investigative process uncovered a significant gap in infant medical histories.
Because there are multiple sites of vaccine administration — the pediatrician’s office, Shots for Tots Clinics, health clinics — without accessing the Louisiana Immunization Network (LINKS), coroners are not guaranteed a complete picture of an infant’s medical history. In 2020, COVID-19 disrupted the legislative session, and HB468 was never heard.
In 2022, after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, Rep. Raymond Crews introduced HB915, which would require coroners to consider vaccine history when any individual died within 60 days of vaccination. The coroner association opposed the legislation, and the bill was defeated on the Louisiana House floor, 30-61.
In 2024, Rep. Amedee introduced HB288, which, similar to her 2020 proposed bill, would require a coroner to include vaccine history in the autopsy of infants 12 months of age or younger who died suddenly and without explanation. Once again, the coroner association opposed the bill, and it failed a House floor vote, 51-50.
Immediately following the bill’s defeat, Rep. Amedee introduced and passed HR292, which instructs the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) to compare the previous 10 years’ sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) death certificates with the infants’ vaccination records.
State-level analysis is important because no system, national or otherwise, routinely performs this type of linkage analysis. We count HR292 as perhaps the most significant piece of health freedom legislation HFL has advocated for.
The data gathered from HR292 will provide essential insight into previously unexamined associations between vaccination timing and sudden infant deaths, helping to identify patterns that have not been fully examined due to fragmented record-keeping.
By aligning death certificate data with vaccination records, the resolution advances transparency, strengthens the integrity of public health analysis, and ensures that policymakers and the public have access to more complete information when evaluating infant mortality trends.
This is an unprecedented state-level analysis, with the potential for far-reaching impact once the data is thoroughly analyzed, independently reviewed and publicly released.
Independently, Children’s Health Defense scientists obtained and analyzed the LDH data and found that infants vaccinated in their second month of life were more likely to die in their third month than unvaccinated infants. The CHD analysis was not an outcome of SB29.
Sen. McMath’s SB29 finally closes the critical information gap by ensuring coroners review LINKS when investigating the unexpected and unexplained death of a child 15 years old or younger.
SB29 does not determine causation, but ensures more complete data is available to evaluate potential patterns in childhood deaths — an area where long-term, comprehensive analysis has historically been absent not only in Louisiana, but also nationwide.
Louisiana is only the second state in the nation to pass this legislation, but we are hopeful all states will follow suit. All families deserve transparency, complete investigations, and the assurance that no relevant medical information is ignored when a child dies unexpectedly and without explanation.
Our sincere thanks and congratulations to Sen. McMath for securing this tremendous victory for all of Louisiana!
Health Freedom Louisiana engages in advocacy and legislative action by educating and equipping individuals and families with accurate information, clear guidance on their rights and relevant laws, and practical tools to take meaningful action on bills and policies that impact informed consent, parental rights and medical freedom. The organization is particularly recognized for helping parents understand and exercise their rights under Louisiana law related to school vaccine requirements. Since its inception, HFL has achieved more than 30 legislative wins for the people of Louisiana.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Children’s Health Defense.
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