(Radio Iowa) – State law lets minors get health care that’s related to the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases without a parent’s permission, but a bill passed by the legislature would no longer let minors get vaccinated against H-P-V and hepatitis B without a parent’s permission.
Republican Representative Austin Harris of Moulton says parental consent is required for other vaccines and the bill ensures parents give consent for vaccinations against hepatitis B and H-P-V. “No one is questioning the efficacy of the vaccine,” Harris said. “It’s effective. I agree with that…but if it’s so great, then it should be pretty easy to convince the parent to do this for the child.”
The hepatitis B vaccine helps prevent liver cancer and the H-P-V vaccine prevents six types of cancer. Representative Austin Baeth, a Democrat from Des Moines who’s a doctor, says if the governor signs the bill into law, fewer kids will get these vaccines. “We have with these vaccines a way to save people’s lives,” Baeth said, “and in a state with the fastest rising cancer rates — the second highest cancer rate overall, we should be doing more to prevent cancer, not less.”
Republican Representative Jeff Shipley of Fairfield says if a doctor wants to vaccinate a child, convincing the child’s parents that it’s a good idea is a reasonable step that should be required by Iowa law.
