More covid hearings planned by Louisiana house committee

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) -More hearings are expected on how the state managed the covid pandemic in 2020.  One of the big issues at the house committee is whether citizens need to be better informed on shots or medications allowed during an emergency.

Even after two days of hearings the House Committee on Homeland Security committee members feel more meetings are needed to evaluate how the state handled the covid pandemic in Louisiana.  

Some committee members want to assure that doctors feel free to speak and act independently without fear of it jeopardizing their livelihood.  

Representative Chuck Owens, R-Rosepine, says some doctors were afraid to appear before the committee in September.

“These people didn’t break any laws, they just did thing the Department of Health wasn’t recommending. Some of these private hospitals and the state were really going after these physicians. And one of them from Monroe, bob Calhoun’s testimony, he treated over four hundred covid patients and did not lose one,” said Owen.

Though he says no licenses were revoked, Owen says some doctors were fired from private hospitals for refusing to take the vaccine and refusing to wear masks.

He says another big concern is whether citizens gave informed consent for vaccines and some treatments.  

“The dirty secret is that these vaccines were rushed out. They were not appropriately tried or analyzed. They were still under emergency use authorization which has a monitor of its own as far as what’s supposed to be done. When you’re given an emergency use authorization you’re supposed to be given informed consent, and we didn’t do that on anyone in Louisiana,” said Owen. Owen says the committee also wants to look into how the pandemic affected schools and education,” said Owen.

He says there are many more questions they want answered even if they need to call back former health department employees from John Bel Edwards’ administration.

Owen says they also want to find out more information about those who died after getting a Covid shot.  He says they have a litany of questions.  No date has been set yet for the hearings.

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