Content warning: Homophobic and ableist slurs. On March 3, state representative Jeff Shipley posted a photo from the Iowa House floor holding up a box of ivermectin. Specifically, the Republican from Fairfield was holding a box of apple-flavored IverCare paste. The label showed a horse silhouette and a feeding syringe. “OTC ivermectin now being debated […]
Vaccines
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Senate committee approves bill forcing medical training programs to accommodate unvaccinated students
On Wednesday, Republicans on the Iowa Senate Education Committee approved a bill that would require public and private colleges and universities that offer “a medical, nursing, or other health care-related degree” to permit unvaccinated students to complete courses requiring clinical rotations that would bring them into contact with medically vulnerable patients. SF 2095 requires a […]
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Vaccine bill advances in Senate, despite medical community’s opposition
A bill that eliminates a minor’s legal right to consent to vaccinations against sexually transmitted infections has advanced in the Iowa Senate despite united opposition from Iowa’s medical community. SF 2064 would revise an existing state law that gives minors the legal capacity to provide the necessary consent for them to receive medical care related […]
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A bill to restrict HIV/AIDS and HPV education in Iowa schools harkens back to the darkest days of the Reagan era
Thirty-six years after the Reagan administration began a long-delayed public education campaign about HIV/AIDS, Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have decided that education about HIV/AIDS is no longer needed in public schools. One of the provisions of SF 496 — a bill introduced by the governor’s office that makes major changes […]
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State senator calls COVID-19 vaccines ineffective before committee approves bill to ban vaccine requirements in schools and daycares
A Republican state senator falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective and called the idea of requiring them the “political belief of authoritarians who want to force their belief in… the hive-mindset,” just before the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, universities and child care facilities. Sen. Jason […]
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Iowa discovers thousands of previously unreported COVID cases, as Republicans push through bill to nix vaccination incentives
The state changed how it provides information about COVID-19 cases and deaths to the public this week, as the Reynolds administration officially stopped treating the pandemic as a public health emergency at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday. Instead of the weekly COVID-19 update the Iowa Department of Public Health used to post to coronavirus.iowa.gov […]
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President Biden unveils plan to help hospitals and increase testing; Gov. Reynolds wants Supreme Court to block federal vaccinate mandate
The Iowa Department of Public Health said another 10,381 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the state during the most recent seven-day reporting period in its weekly update on Wednesday. The department also disclosed another 119 deaths from the virus. Those newly reported deaths brought Iowa’s official COVID-19 death toll to 7,799. For the […]
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Omicron detected in more Iowa counties, indicating community spread of the COVID variant
The Iowa Department of Public Health announced on Friday the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 had been confirmed in seven counties, including Johnson and Linn. According to an IDPH spokesperson, not all the people who tested positive for Omicron had traveled recently or been in close contact with those who had, so it is […]
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The first case of the Omicron variant in Iowa has been detected
The first case of the Omicron variant was confirmed in Iowa on Thursday, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. The State Hygienic Laboratory (SHL) detected the COVID-19 variant in a sample for an unvaccinated resident of Black Hawk County, who is under the age of 18. The person has no symptoms, but was […]
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COVID-19: Iowa adds 13,000 new cases; Gov. Reynolds celebrates legal win; Johnson County passes new mandate
Over the last seven days, Iowa hit new highs for the year in the number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the number of patients hospitalized with the virus, according to the latest weekly update from the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH reported 13,039 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a significant jump […]
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President Biden unveils plan to fight COVID spread over winter; hospitalizations in Iowa reach a new high for 2021
“I know COVID-19 has become very divisive in this country, it’s become a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday. “It shouldn’t be, but it has been. Now as we move into the winter and face the challenges of this new variant, we can put the divisiveness behind […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Judge halts enforcement of federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health workers in Iowa and nine other states
On Monday, a federal judge in Missouri issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Biden administration from enforcing the mandate requiring workers at healthcare facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The injunction only applies to the 10 states who filed the lawsuit against the mandate. Iowa is one of those […]
