(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House Education Committee has approved a bill that would eliminate all vaccination requirements for students in Iowa’s public K-through-12 schools. Under current law, parents must provide the school nurse with proof their child has been vaccinated against polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, Hepatitus B and chicken pox. A vaccination against meningitis is required for students in 7th through 12th grade.

Republican Representative Brooke Boden, of Indianola, says while parents may seek a medical or religious exemption from those requirements, that falls short of full autonomy. “You either really have to have a medical concern or you have to claim that you’re religious,” she said, “and I think that’s coercing parents into a situation in which they’re not able to utilize their parental right to find the right vaccination schedule for their child.”

Representative Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, opposes the bill. “Childhood vaccines are one of the most thoroughly studied inventions in history. They have saved so many lives,” Matson says. “Public health matters. It matters for our kids. It matters for all of us.” Matson says the requirements are important to reach herd immunity and protect kids who cannot be vaccinated.

“This bill is dangerous for our kids,” Matson said, “and I don’t know why we would be telling families in Iowa that we do not value public health or making sure that their kids are healthy.” Boden says the bill lets parents make the decision about their child’s vaccinations. “This is a bill that says that you don’t have to be vaccinated to attend school,” Boden said. “(It) leaves the medical decisions between you and your medical provider instead of putting it back on the educational system…to make that part of their purview.”

Iowa medical groups say schools are places where illnesses spread quickly and ending the vaccination requirements will lead to more Iowans getting sick with preventable diseases. All 50 states currently require children to be vaccinated against certain diseases in order to attend public schools, but most allow medical and religious exemptions.