Anti-vax, pro-ivermectin measures advance in Kansas Senate

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 potentially dangerous 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 the anti-worm medication 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 Senate.

Steffen says he’s under investigation for statements about COVID-19.