TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fellow conservative Republicans are rallying behind a Kansas physician-legislator being investigated by the state medical board. They did so Tuesday by advancing state Sen. Mark Steffen's measures to protect doctors pursuing alternative treatments for COVID-19 and to weaken state childhood vaccination requirements.
Steffen is a member of the Senate's health committee and persuaded it to approve a requirement for pharmacists to fill prescriptions of ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
He also persuaded the committee to add a proposal to make it easy for parents to claim religious exemptions from childhood immunization requirements. The bill goes next to the full Senate. Steffen told a Senate committee he's under investigation for statements about COVID-19.