Anti-Vax Bill Moves in Kansas Senate

Conservative Republican lawmakers have revived a proposal to weaken Kansas’ vaccination requirements for children enrolling in school and day care.

The Senate health committee approved a bill that would allow parents to get a no-questions-asked religious exemption from requirements to vaccinate their children against more than a dozen diseases, including measles, whooping cough, polio, and chickenpox.

The measure would require schools to grant an exemption to parents who say vaccinations violate their religious or strongly-held moral or ethical beliefs without investigating those beliefs.

The measure also would limit pharmacists’ ability to refuse to fill prescriptions for drugs for off-label uses as COVID-19 treatments.

The Republican majority also is considering a proposal to greatly limit the power of the state’s public health administrator to deal with infectious diseases.