DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The number of parents seeking religious exemptions to Iowa vaccination requires is still climbing despite health officials’ efforts to ease concerns about the shots. Don Callaghan with the Iowa Public Health Department told The Des Moines Register that “it’s not the trend we want to be seeing.”

A new state report says more than 6,700 Iowa schoolchildren obtained religious exemptions to vaccinations this school year, up 13 percent from the year before and more than four times the number 15 years ago. Iowa doesn’t make parents cite specific religious teachings for exemptions. The state merely requires a signed statement that immunization “conflicts with a genuine and sincere religious belief.”

About 1.3 percent of Iowa schoolchildren now have religious exemptions to vaccination, compared with a national average of 1.5 percent.

A new push to guard against meningitis outbreaks in Iowa is included in a budget bill awaiting Governor Branstad’s review. Bacterial meningitis is serious and can be deadly. It causes tissue surrounding the brain and the spinal cord to swell. Representative Rob Taylor of West Des Moines is all too familiar with it.

“My oldest daughter who is in dental school now actually had it when she was 18 days old, nearly died. That’s why part of the reason why it’s very close to my heart,” Taylor says. “I think it’s very important that we have junior high, high school and adults vaccinated specifically against meningitis, so that we’re not exposing unneeded risk to our smallest — our toddlers and our infants.”

Iowa is one of 11 states that do not require teenagers to be vaccinated. “We’re ripe for an outbreak,” Taylor says. The Centers for Disease Control recommends kids get the meningitis vaccine by the age of 12 and then get a booster shot when they’re 16. “You get a shot at the 7th grade level and the 12th grade level, preparing our kids to go off and live in dorms or go into the military and it has a zero percent death rate,” Taylor says.

If Governor Branstad signs off on the proposal, 7th graders and 12th graders will have to show they’ve gotten the meningitis vaccine, or they won’t be able to enroll in school. Meningitis is highly contagious, according to Taylor. “And very devastating to the community that gets it because if there’s one that has, it can spread rapidly,” Taylor says. About four-thousand cases of meningitis are reported in the U.S. each year.

At the end of March a student at St. Ambrose University was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. Nearly 80 percent of American teenagers get a first dose of the meningitis vaccine. In Iowa, only 64 percent get it. That’s 11-and-a-half percent lower than Minnesota and about 13 percent lower than Illinois. South Dakota’s governor just signed a bill requiring 7th and 12th graders to show they’ve been vaccinated before they may enroll in school.

(Radio Iowa)

The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund has donated $1000 to the Nishna Valley Family YMCA’s 2016 Annual Campaign as a Chairman’s Roundtable Member. Officials with the Y say “Thank you for ‘Answering the Call.’  Every gift makes a difference.  Everyone has a role to play, thank you to Trevor’s family and the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund for playing that role. ”

Laena Frederickson and Grant Petty are shown in the picture

“Together, with people and organizations like the TFred Memorial who “Answer The Call” the Nishna Valley YMCA says they can achieve so much more.  If you would like to donate to the Annual Campaign you can stop at the front desk of the YMCA, or for more details about the Annual Campaign call Michelle at 243-3934.

Officials with TS Banking Group, in Treynor, Tuesday, announced an agreement has been reached to acquire a bank in Corning. TS entered into the purchase agreement with Blue Grass Bancorporation, Inc., in Corning, to acquire the Okey-Vernon 1st National Bank, with banking assets of $85-million.

TS Banking Group is a joint venture between Treynor Bancshares, Inc., the bank holding company of Treynor State Bank, with banking assets of $290-million, and TS Contrarian Bancshares, Inc., the bank holding company of The Bank of Tioga (North Dakota), with banking assets of $300-million. The TS Banking Group is headquartered in Treynor.

Okey-Vernon 1st National Bank’s name will be changed to TS Bank, and become part of the TS Bank branch network.