Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill (HF 2368) that would limit government agencies, businesses and schools from requiring medical interventions, like vaccines.
The bill, called the Iowa Medical Freedom Act, passed a House Health and Human Services subcommittee on Thursday.
It would prohibit businesses, government agencies and schools from penalizing or discriminating against employees who refuse medical interventions like vaccinations. It would also eliminate school vaccine requirements.
Lina Tucker Reinders, executive director of the Iowa Public Health Association, opposes the bill. She said vaccine requirements help curb disease outbreaks, which can also have economic impacts on the state.
“We know that when outbreaks happen, that parents have to stay home, children have to stay home, it can be lost hours, lost wages, a business may need to close,” she said.
The subcommittee’s two Republican representatives supported the bill.
Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Independence, said he doesn’t oppose vaccines, but he believes they should be a choice.
“I've gotten, what, the shingles and everything else, I guess a tetanus shot, if that's considered a vaccine?” Johnson said. “And some of my jobs I've been in have required that. I guess if they didn't require it, it was just maybe out of good sense on my part. But that was my choice also.”
Opponents of the bill said there are already exceptions for employees and parents of children to opt out of vaccine requirements.