The vaccines still await full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The coronavirus vaccines are not experimental and have gone through all required stages of clinical trials, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Extensive testing and monitoring have shown that these vaccines are safe and effective," the CDC's website says. Brooke Boden, R-Indianola, said in a statement. "We should never have government or big business making our personal, private health decisions." "The idea that your employer can mandate you to take an experimental vaccine with zero recourse if you're harmed should be alarming to all Iowans," Rep. ![]() Other Republicans were more critical of Trinity's requirement. "If they honor the medical and religious exemptions of their employees, then I think that’s probably reasonable and I would probably be OK with the policy," Shipley said. We are just trying to get more information," Shipley said of the letter, which carried the signatures of nearly one-fifth of Republicans' 91 legislators. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, who voted against the law and was among the letter's signers, said his two concerns are ensuring the hospital system makes clear its criteria for when employees can assert a medical or religious exemption to vaccination and determining who is liable if an employee suffers side effects of a vaccine they were required to receive as a condition of employment. We are just trying to get more information' ► More: How does Iowa's proposed ban on 'vaccine passports' work? We broke it down 'We are not criticizing. The debate over the exemption prompted some Republicans to break with their party and vote against the legislation because they felt the law didn't go far enough to ban vaccine requirements. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed a law in May that would withhold state grants and contracts from local governments or businesses that require customers to prove they have received the COVID-19 vaccine. But the law carries an exemption for health care facilities and also does not prohibit employers from placing requirements on their employees. Republicans' concerns about Trinity's vaccine requirement for employees follow a major debate in the Iowa Legislature this year about whether private employers should be allowed to require their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Most Iowa hospitals have not publicly announced a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for employees. ► More: Iowa health officials cast wary eye toward surging COVID cases in Missouri early signs of 'potential crisis' feared The evidence is clear that vaccination saves lives." "With the delta variant, cases are increasing in many under-vaccinated communities across the country, including ours," Kassi Hoxmeier, a MercyOne spokesperson, said in an email. "If we don't increase vaccinations now, we may miss a chance to put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trinity Health's decision, announced July 8, came as an increasing number of hospital systems nationally have begun mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for staff - a decision the American Hospital Association said it supports. Leaders at Trinity have said it's a step to increase vaccinations as the more-contagious delta variant spreads in Iowa and across the country. The company doesn't own some other MercyOne hospital systems, including the one based in Des Moines. The hospitals are in Clinton, Dubuque, Dyersville, Mason City, New Hampton, Primghar and Sioux City. ![]() Trinity Health is the parent company of seven MercyOne hospitals in Iowa and of other clinics associated with those locations. The letter they issued this week includes dozens of questions, ranging from inquiries about the hospital's liability and its enforcement of religious exemptions to requests for scientific evidence on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. The issue of vaccine mandates split the Legislature's Republican caucus when lawmakers debated the issue earlier this year, and Trinity's decision could prompt renewed discussions. They said their decision to send the letter was prompted by what they called "confusion and distress" caused by the company's announcement earlier this month that its employees must receive the vaccine. Seventeen lawmakers sent an open letter Wednesday to Trinity Health, which owns more than 90 hospitals in 22 states, including seven MercyOne locations in Iowa. Watch Video: Lambda variant: What you need to know about the newest COVID strainĪ group of Iowa Republican lawmakers are questioning a hospital system's decision to require employees at its Iowa locations to receive the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.
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