One issue that brought a number of supporters to the Capitol last year were bills to expand exemptions and medical freedom in regard to vaccinations.
Sen. Dennis Guth (R-Hancock) said while his bill last year upset many people, even nurses in his own church, he received many new contacts from people who thanked him for bringing light to the issue.
“It’s one of the things I did last year that I’ll probably do some more of this year,” Guth said. “People are very split on vaccine safety right now. Boy, I got some nurses in my church really mad at me, but I also had doctors, nurses, physician assistants — all kinds of medical people who called me in support of what I was doing as well.”
There’s too much of the medical community who takes whatever the CDC gives them and it is always right, as opposed to doing their own research and finding out what is really there, Guth said.
“Of the medical people who I’ve talked to, a lot of them have said, ‘I have witnessed injury right in my office. I hate giving vaccinations,'” Guth added.
This year, Guth said he may run some smaller bills in an effort to gain some momentum. One of those would be requiring written consent before a child can be vaccinated at school.
“Sometimes they do vaccinations in school, and if you show up, it means you’re OK with it,” Guth said. “An important thing would be prohibiting medical practices and individual doctors from being penalized or incentivized financially based on vaccination rates. I’m not sure of the level, but at some practices, if you hit a certain level, you get a pretty good kickback.”
