Republican Zach Lahn says many Iowans who support him in the race for governor are doing so because of what happened during the pandemic.
“We are seeing energized people in the Republican Party and independents who are conservative who say that, ‘We’re not going to give away and give up the progress that we’ve made, the rights that we had,’” Lahn said. “They saw what happened during COVID. The veil was lifted. They saw what these people are willing to do take your rights away, to lock people down, to shut your churches down — all of these things.”
After President Trump declared COVID a national public health emergency, Governor Reynolds ordered schools, churches, and most business to close on March 17, 2020, then she gradually started lifting those restrictions in late April. This spring, the legislature passed a bill that Reynolds signed into law that will prevent future governors from ordering the closure of private businesses or churches. The new law also forbids vaccine mandates during public health emergencies.
“The medical establishment completely lost our trust back then and they’re doing nothing to earn it back right now,” Lahn said. “I am very thankful of the work of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., though.”
In May, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control would no longer recommend the COVID vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women. In late August, the FDA said the COVID vaccine should to limited to two groups: anyone above the age of 64 and anyone older than six-months who has at least one underlying health condition.
Lahn has called for COVID vaccines to be pulled off the market and has vowed to ban them in Iowa if he’s elected. “Iowa needs to lead on this to make sure we have healthy interventions for our kids and our people and that we’re telling the truth about the risks of products whether it be vaccines or chemicals that we’re using to make sure we have truth in what’s going on because Washington, D.C. is captured and these agencies cannot be trusted to protect the people,” Lahn said. “Iowa needs to protect its people.”
Lahn made his comments this weekend during a forum in Humboldt.
