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Iowa Senate panel rejects anti-vaccine proposals

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February 20th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A bill that would have prohibited health care providers and insurance companies from discriminating against people who refuse immunizations has failed to advance to a Senate committee. A Human Resources subcommittee on Tuesday voted against advancing the bill that would have created the Vaccination Safety and Right of Refusal Act. Republican Sen. Thomas Greene, a retired Burlington pharmacist, voted with a Democrat to kill the bill.

The subcommittee also declined to forward a bill that created a philosophical exemption from vaccinations for children enrolling in schools or child care centers. Gov. Kim Reynolds says that with outbreaks of measles and other diseases resurfacing, she thinks vaccinations are important. She says existing medical and religious exemptions already address some of the concerns voiced by anti-vaccine proponents.