Meeting Public Comments

Courtney Collier

I support this bill with an amendment to include healthcare facilities and their employees. The Covid19 vaccine and all vaccines come with the risk of death as per their package inserts. They are the only medical product that has no liability for the manufacturer. No liability free product or procedure that comes with a risk of death should be mandated upon the population. There should be NO exceptions to this in Iowa. No employer or business or venue can assume the liability for the personal decision to receive a vaccine. We are a free people with God granted liberties to live as we see fit, free from Government control over our medical decisions.

Kathy Pietraszewski

I am not in support of vaccine passports so thank you for enacting legislation to prohibit them. However, this bill has some major loopholes that need to be fixed. NO IOWAN, under any circumstances, should be discriminated upon because they choose not to take an experimental shot or any other medical treatment, for that matter. It needs to be amended to cover every Iowan in the state. It seems to me that making a distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated people is putting us back into segregation. Do you really want places of business for only vaccinated people and other places for unvaccinated? People should not be marginalized or penalized for their health care choices. To quote from an interview with author Naomi Wolf, "The more we know about these vaccines, the scarier it is to have coercion that is social. It's also illegal. In America, we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. It means it's illegal to even ask me anything about my medical status. You can't ask me if I'm pregnant. You can't ask me if I'm disabled. You can't ask me if I have diabetes or HIV. You cannot ask me anything. By definition, these intrusive measures are unlawful. We have to use the law to save the law, basically, because we're seeing laws being passed." Personally, I have lived in Iowa most of my life and have been married 45 years. My husband is immunocompromised from nearly 50 years of rheumatoid arthritis, including 13 total joint replacements and many drugs. I have been taking care of him for the last 14 years since he had a massive stroke. His body is frail and I do not want to compromise his immune system further with shots of any kind. (That includes flu shots, which could be mandated next if the pharmaceutical companies get their way.) To show you how this tyranny works, my husband's doctor wrote a note for me to carry saying that it is not good for him to wear a mask. Still, there have been barber shops and other places that read the note and refuse to let him in. His medical needs are being ignored by people with no knowledge of his condition. Just imagine what it will be like if you require proof of shots to get into a grocery store or a bank or a doctor's office or a dentist? How can that possibly be right in a country where we are supposed to be free? It sounds very much like living under communism. This is not a partisan issue at all. It has to do with upholding the Constitution. Not all states are doing that. I hope that Iowa will. Please FIX this bill. It does not matter whether you are a supporter of vaccines or not. Medical freedom is the issue here. Today it is experimental shots; tomorrow it could be something far worse.

Leslie Beck [Freedom]

I support SF610 only with amendments to protect those seeking medical care, those visiting loved ones in medical facilities and for employees from employer mandates for the vaccine. The bill as is offers little protection and sends the message that some entities do not need to respect medical freedom or privacy. I will seek medical care in a state that respects medical freedom if Iowa does not or if we are unable seek medical care in Iowa due to the loopholes the current bill allows. And I know many other Iowans who will do the same. Thank you.

Mark Sandersfeld

SF610 is a joke. No passport for any vaccine should ever be allowed especially with COVID. I refuse to use any medicine that uses aborted babies, God creation of sacred life. So this is more than a strong arm tactic by BIG PHARMA it is an assult to our religious freedom and our privacy. I urge all state senators to strike down this bill which only protects Big Pharma and takes Iowans righrs away. Ask Big Pharma how much they are profiting off of COVID while they blocked safe therapeutics to those who died needlessly. There is no need for an Experimental Gene Therapy when two therapeutics are blocked but effective to all Americans. Big Pharma and the AMA need to be investigated for only focusing on profit not health.

Miranda B

Support for this bill: Additional provisions NEED to be added to this bill in order to protect the rights of employees and to protect our medical information from being stored in a state registry without our consent. Codifying the language makes this piece of legislation almost worthless. Other states are presenting a far stronger stance on preserving our individual right to medical privacy and bodily autonomy. People are already being turned away from healthcare facilities for their healthcare choices. Passing this legislation without the clarity of making sure this is for ALL services and businesses condones and potentially sets a precedence for healthcare facilities to discriminate or turn people away who need help. Not to mention not give their employees the informed consent and choice over their own bodies. We NEED these trained people, those who have a heart and passion, to stay in their positions... helping people. If they feel they have to choose between doing what they love or giving into not having a choice over their bodies, then I say we stand to lose a great deal of people who are good at their jobs and we need all the help we can get!Be bold, be the leader Iowans need you to be!

Ann Rollinger

I was ver happy to see that legislation was being introduced to address vaccine passports. However, upon reading the bill, I was extremely disappointed. Where is the protection of patients privacy in healthcare settings? Where Is the protection of employees? Where is the protection of freedom of choice? Why is the IRIS system not addressed?I do not support this bill as written. Please amend this bill to include protection of our medical and religious freedom. By allowing exceptions, YOU are responsible for creating a society in which people can be discriminated against. You are responsible for coercing people to take a medical procedure against their will. Do better Iowa.

emily lewis [iowa resident ]

SUPPORT SF610 AND MAKE AMENDMENTSThis bill NEEDS to apply to healthcare facilities, this defeats the whole purpose of having this bill. People are already being inhibited from going into a healthcare facility over masks even with medical exemptions to them. Codifying this language only sets a precedence and condones healthcare facilities to ask for proof regardless of if that person is a patient or not.This bill NEEDS to address IRIS being utilized to confirm vaccination status, violating the individual's right to privacy and potentially leading to discriminationThis bill NEEDS to apply to employees at said entities, violating their individual right to medical privacy and bodily autonomyPLEASE add additional provisions to this bill to protect the rights of employees and to protect our medical information from being stored in a state registry without our consent.

Emily Wood [I contain multitudes ]

I am in support of this bill WITH AMENDMENTS to include Healthcare. To say that we, the people, should be free to make choices in regards to our healthcare decisions, but then say that those people in Healthcare are not free to choose for themselves is ridiculous. If Healthcare amendments are not added, we are going to lose Healthcare workers to other states who do recognize their freedom of choice. And no, part of a bill is not as good as the whole bill. Do the right thing.

Bethany Niermeyer

I am in STRONG support of SF610 to ban vaccine passports. Though I am concerned with how vague this bill is. We need protection from vaccine mandates at EVERY level, not just at the government level. I do not want anything to do with an incredibly experimental vaccine for me (especially being 19 weeks pregnant) nor my family.My son, Chase is 9 and had a stroke after his 2 month vaccines and I already have to drive 2 hours for him to see a doctor, even WITH a medical exemption. Not a single office in CR will see him unless I get him fully up to date on his vaccines. I know hospitals cannot deny you care but what if one of us just needs some routine blood work, or antibiotics, etc? Will we be denied if we do not have a covid vaccine? Will I have to drive 2 hours for that too?If this discrimination is ALREADY happening and not being addressed, how much worse is it going to get with the covid vaccine when its being pushed on DOT billboards, social media, by celebrities, to school children, etc harder than any other vaccine out there.I know we may not agree, you may be afraid of covid, but I am afraid of this vaccine being forced on my family. This is incredibly important to my family and MANY others across the state. I don't care if people choose to get the vaccine but a vaccine should NEVER be forced on anyone, especially just to provide for their families, buy necessities or get medical care. ESPECIALLY when this vaccine is not even fully FDA approved and likely will not be for a good year or more.

Mindy Paulson

AMEND SF 610 to protect ALL Iowans, NO EXCEPTIONS, and protect our privacy by including provisions to prevent our medical information from being stored in a state database (IRIS) without our consent.

Christina Crew

SUPPORT and AMEND to protect all Iowans! Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain!

Ella Hall

Please support SF610/HF889, however, with an amendment that would also protect Iowans from having to prove they have had an experimental Covid vaccine (trials won't be done until 2023) at medical facilities. No one should ever be forced to take an experimental substance that the FDA has NOT APPROVED yet (only emergency use authorization) in order to get medical treatment. Please, don't allow medical facilities to force Iowans into taking an experimental vaccine in order to get medical care. This is discrimination! Also, no employers should ever be able to force employees to have an experimental treatment in order to stay employed. Nor should any colleges be able to force students to do that.IRIS should not be accessible, either, for the public to look up who had a vaccination. Thank you for your consideration!

Betsy Fickel

While SF 610 is a good start, regarding covid 19 passports. It is critically lacking in several areas. I'm puzzled why yet another prejudicial bill, legalizing discrimination of people. This time around (previously SF 342 with S3158 amendment) It is NOT a 'vaccination' as it has never been FDA approved. It is an experimental shot.By coercing, forcing a person to have something experimental put into their bodies in order to receive medical treatment, work, even visit a medical or long term care facility is an implicit violation of their right of free choice. Frankly, the shades of Nazi Germany and any other dictatorship grow darker. It would not be hard to amend this bill to make it non discriminatory, protect people's rights to privacy, protect their bodies from involuntary experimentation,adhere to freedom of choice as guaranteed by our constitutions. Please add amendments to a protect a very critical part of people's lives, medical and end of life issues.A good start, but do it right the first time.