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March 18, 2022Topeka, Kan. |  By: AP

GOP revives anti-vax, pro-ivermectin measure in Kansas

vaccine

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Conservative Republican lawmakers have revived a proposal to weaken Kansas vaccination requirements for children enrolling in school and day care and to make it easier for people to get potentially dangerous treatments for COVID-19. 

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, whopping cough, polio and chickenpox.

The measure also limits pharmacists' ability to refuse to fill prescriptions for drugs such as the anti-worm treatment ivermectin as COVID-19 treatments. Backers say the measure protects religious freedom and patient choice. Critics say it harms public health.