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Iowa bill would ban businesses from requiring employees get vaccinations
David Conway gets first COVID-19 vaccine in Iowa.
Two Republicans in the Iowa Senate have agreed to advance a bill that would prohibit Iowa businesses and health care facilities from requiring that employees get vaccinations.
A 97-minute-long subcommittee hearing on the bill was dominated by critics of vaccinations in general. Shanda Burke, a lobbyist for a group called Informed Choice Iowa, said she quit her job as a medical assistant because her employer required flu shots.
“No other health decisions are like that, you know, blood pressure, anything like that, it’s completely up to you between you and your doctor and not between you and your employer,” she said.
Bill that would ban employers from mandating vaccines passes Iowa Senate subcommittee Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
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Iowa Senate Republicans advanced a bill Tuesday that would broaden the state s exemptions for childhood vaccinations, forbid Iowa employers from requiring their employees to be vaccinated and provide other protections for people who decline to be vaccinated.
The bill, Senate File 193, passed through a Senate subcommittee after more than 90 minutes of testimony, with Republican Sens. Jim Carlin of Sioux City and Mark Costello of Imogene supporting it and Democratic Sen. Pam Jochum of Dubuque opposed. It is now eligible for consideration by the full Senate Human Resources Committee, although the Republican senators suggested parts of the measure could be rewritten.