Go Retire Psychiatrist

Iowa Ivermectin Bill is Funnel Proof and Apparently is Still Alive and Other Anti-Vaccination Bills

According to a Des Moines Register story today “Which bills in the Iowa Legislature lived and died after 2nd funnel?” by Steven Gruber-Miller and Marissa Payne March 20, 2026:

“Other bills remain in play, including legislation restricting the governor’s emergency powers, allowing Iowans to buy ivermectin over the counter without a prescription and limiting tuition increases at Iowa’s public universities.”

Apparently, the ivermectin over-the-counter (OTC) bill is funnel proof and is still alive as part of HF 2676 (the Senate passed its version, SF 2367). I was not able to read the entire Des Moines Register story because I don’t have a subscription. However, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) also reported this morning (AI pops up whether I want it to or not and puts its 2 cents in) that the ivermectin bill is still alive. The 2026 legislative session is still active through April 21, 2026. My apologies. I must have misunderstood the Bleeding Heartland story I posted about on March 14, 2026.

I’m pretty sure I read the KCCI news story correctly about what bills survived the 2^nd funnel or not in a story published yesterday, which pointed out that the bill to “eliminate school vaccine requirements” did not survive the second funnel.

I couldn’t find out anything about the bill on vaccine exemptions for certain students in clinical rotations and modifying eligibility for Iowa tuition grants for postsecondary schools. A committee report approving this bill was filed on February 23, 2026, and it was subsequently renumbered as SF 2424. Unfortunately, all I can gather about it comes from an AI summary:

“Key Provisions:
- Requires postsecondary schools to identify, upon request, a rotation placement where students are exempt from vaccination requirements.
- Defines “postsecondary school” and “facility” for these purposes.
- Institutions failing to comply may lose eligibility for Iowa tuition grants and face a $5,000 civil penalty.
Status/Funnel Position: As of Feb 23, 2026, the bill was on the Senate calendar and passed by the Senate Education Committee. In the context of the second funnel deadline (March 20, 2026), which requires policy bills to have passed out of a committee in the opposite chamber, this bill (formerly SF 2095) is moving through the process, but as of the initial 2026 reports, its exact final position relative to the March 20 deadline is subject to final Legislative Service Agency tracking.
Context: The bill was introduced by the Senate Education Committee.”

This legislative process is confusing to me and I may need to correct this later today.

Waiting for the Second Funnel in Iowa Legislature on Anti Vaccination Bills 2026

I’ve been trying to track the two anti-vaccination bills heading into the 2^nd funnel in Iowa and I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow’s news reports.

One of them is HF 2171 which would eliminate Iowa’s requirement that children in grades K-12 receive vaccines before they can attend school. The other is SF 2095 (replaced by SF 2424, I believe) which would require postsecondary private schools to find clinical rotation training facilities for students in health care fields which would allow them to be exempt from any vaccine requirements.

I don’t expect either to survive the funnel, but I’m surprised that these bills were introduced at all given the risks of reducing the protection against communicable diseases as set by current public health policy.

I found a research paper on anti-vaccination legislation in mid-western states in which one of the authors, Filip Viskupič is a scholar who represents Iowa State University.

Reference:

Filip Viskupič, David L. Wiltse, Zachary Liebl, Tobias Kinslow,

The prevalence and nature of anti-vaccination legislation in ten midwestern states: Implications for public health and policy,

Vaccine,

Volume 79,

2026,

128452,

ISSN 0264-410X,

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X26002604)

Abstract: Legislative proposals that could lower vaccination rates pose a threat to public health in the United States. We tracked and analyzed anti-vaccination bills proposed in the legislatures of ten Midwestern states from 2013 to 2024. We used the LegiScan database to search for bills, and three researchers independently classified each identified bill. We classified 374 bills as anti-vaccination bills. The legislative sessions during 2021–2022 saw 222 anti-vaccination bills proposed, mostly concerning COVID-19 vaccination. During 2023–2024, 101 bills were proposed; however, these bills were broader in scope, covering vaccines beyond COVID-19. Most anti-vaccination bills were introduced by Republican lawmakers and only 9 had Democratic sponsorship or co-sponsorship, and only 22 were signed into law. Scholars should continue systematically tracking and analyzing anti-vaccination proposals and other bills impacting public health.

Keywords: Vaccine policy; Anti-vaccine; Health Policy; Health Politics

CDC ACIP Meeting Postponed for Today and Tomorrow

I missed the recent notice in the last couple of days that the CDC ACIP meeting was postponed for today and tomorrow. Me and more than a couple dozen people were kept waiting for a half hour before I got suspicious and looked it up. There’s a CIDRAP story posted yesterday that explains the “delay.”

There was a federal district judge ruling two days ago “…temporarily blocks every major vaccine policy change made by President Trump’s administration over the past year. The ruling came in response to the ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and five other major medical organizations against Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

There is no message on the CDC ACIP webcast site about this and at the moment I’m writing this, there are still 41 people waiting for the YouTube webcast. I figured they were just getting coffee and bagels. There should have been an announcement by the CDC ACIP.

No wonder there was no agenda.

9 Card Cribbage Comedy!

Sena’s been after me for weeks to play 9 card cribbage, so because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I gave in because we might get lucky and the game might be playable.

We used a computer scorer developed by somebody who posted about 9 card cribbage (and other cribbage variants) and has a link to a program he developed to help with scoring: skunked.club. I found this on a reddit thread.

We got so involved and had so much fun, we lost track of time and couldn’t film the last hand because there wasn’t enough space on the memory card. We used the scorer to check our counts and it was helpful. Sena won!

Iowa Blizzard Update!

The blizzard started yesterday evening. I put out the garbage this morning and scraped out a path to our doorstep in case we get the cribbage boards delivered today from Canada. I’m not expecting it.

It’s still blowing snow around. The stuff is freezing on the driveway and the sidewalks. I’m surprised the garbage can is still upright. It won’t be a good day for using the electric snow shovel. The blades might not stand up to the thick icy crust. I’ll make do with the shovel. The plow just went by.

Looks like Bigfoot survived it.

Ivermectin Bill Looks Like It’s Dead-For Now

This is a quick followup on the progress of Governor Reynolds MAHA bill which included a piece endorsing making Ivermectin available over-the-counter in Iowa. I just read a story about what looks like the disappearance of the ivermectin from Reynold’s bill. The story, written by Laura Belin, comes from a webpage called Bleeding Heartland: An independent website about Iowa politics.

I don’t follow politics avidly (putting it mildly), but I think I understand a short paragraph from Ms. Belin’s article”:

“The Senate didn’t advance the governor’s bill. Instead, Senate Health and Human Services Committee chair Kara Warme introduced her own “health-related matters” bill, which got through committee and is eligible for floor debate. That legislation (Senate File 2367) incorporated the governor’s proposals on nutrition education, certificates of need for health care facilities, federal food assistance, and food dyes in schools, but left the ivermectin language on the cutting room floor.”

It looks like another anti-vaccine bill bit the dust—for now. I would cheer, but I know better. I expect somebody will resurrect it at some time in the future. I hope Dr. Austin Baeth is still around when it happens.

OK, Why is Nobody Talking About Friday the 13th Today?

Nobody but me, I guess, is talking out loud about Friday the 13^th today. I don’t remember anybody mentioning it last month when it occurred either. And it’s going to happen again this year in November. That’ll make 3 times Friday the 13th happens in a single year. And tomorrow’s Svengoolie movie is “Friday the 13^th.”

Nobody in state legislatures or the U.S. Congress is doing anything about making Friday the 13^th illegal.

There’s phobia of Friday the 13^th that everybody knows exist but that everybody (including me) always forgets, mainly because the name is very long: friggatriskaidekaphobia. There’s an alternate name: paraskevidekatriaphobia. Frigga is the name of the Norse god for Friday and if you’re partial to Greek, Paraskevi is the god’s name. The rest of the name means fear of the number 13.

I don’t remember anything unlucky about February 13th last month. In fact, I didn’t even think about it until well after the day passed.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed today.

Rash of Bigfoot Sightings in Ohio, So What About Iowa?

Actually, I should refer to the multiple sightings of Bigfoot as a flap. That’s proper terminology. The news story shows a video with the cryptid on it although I think it looks more like somebody smeared a chocolate bar on the camera lens.

There’s an organization called Bigfoot Society that is tracking the story. The Bigfoot Society Podcast by Jeremiah Byron of Earlham, Iowa posts weekly about Sasquatch sightings and lore. Here’s one about Iowa. There are a lot of ads periodically, so be patient.

There’s one thing I couldn’t find on the web and that’s the Iowa Bigfoot Information Center. There was a guy named Kevin Cook who was the head of it, but that was back in the late 1970s, which supposedly is when there were a lot of Bigfoot sightings. I found a really short article from September 24, 1978 published in the Des Moines Register about him.

I did a little digging and Kevin Cook partnered with another Bigfoot researcher named Clifford Labrecque to start the Iowa Bigfoot Information Center. Jeremiah Byron’s full YouTube presentation is sponsored by the Bigfoot Society Podcast and, unfortunately is available to members only. But there is a short teaser.

In the teaser, Byron interviews Kevin Cook and, although I can’t tell exactly how recent it is, I believe it was done shortly after Labrecque passed in 2021. The discussion mentions a prominent scientist, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, who has been interviewed on TV about Bigfoot. Unfortunately, he also passed in September of 2025. He was a full professor of Anatomy and Anthropology in the Dept of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University. He was a guest on some popular TV shows about Bigfoot (one of them misidentified him as being on faculty at Iowa State University). People are always getting Iowa mixed up with either Idaho or Ohio.

I’m reminded also of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), which keeps records of Bigfoot sighting around the country and they also sponsor annual Bigfoot hunts in Iowa. They had one last year, but I couldn’t find out how that went. There’s 2026 Iowa BFRO Expedition, which starts next month, April 30-May 3. Details are available below the announcement. Guns and dogs are not allowed.

Sena and I have done our own Bigfoot expeditions and one of them is below. No need to thank us; it’s our pleasure to contribute to the scientific endeavor.

CDC ACIP Meeting Scheduled for March 18, 19 2026

It’s been a while since the last CDC ACIP meeting. It’s scheduled for March 18, 2026, 8 AM to 5 PM EST and March 19, 2026, 8 AM to 5 PM EST, according the notice on the Federal Register.

There are over 1500 comments and the one I thought was the best was by the Vaccinate Your Family (VFY) organization, which you can read on their website.

According to the notice: “The agenda will include updates on ACIP Workgroups and discussions on COVID-19 vaccine injuries and Long-COVID and ACIP recommendation methodology. Recommendation votes may be scheduled for COVID-19 vaccine injuries and Long-COVID and ACIP recommendation methodology. Agenda items are subject to change as priorities dictate. For more information on the meeting agenda, visit https://www.cdc.gov/acip/meetings/index.html.

Meeting Information: The meeting will be webcast live via the World Wide Web.”