Zach Lahn Healthcare Lies Iowa

Zach Lahn Was Asked in January Whether He'd Ban All mRNA Vaccines. 'Absolutely, Absolutely I Would.' Now He Says 'I Never Said That.'

At a Moms for Liberty primary debate in January, Lahn answered 'Absolutely, absolutely I would' when asked about banning all mRNA vaccines in Iowa. Five days before the general election, he told KCRG the claim is 'a lie' — and now says mRNA cancer treatments could help Iowans.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 30, 2026

Zach Lahn Was Asked in January Whether He'd Ban All mRNA Vaccines. 'Absolutely, Absolutely I Would.' Now He Says 'I Never Said That.' — Photo: Iowa Public Radio

In January, at a Republican primary debate hosted with Moms for Liberty, Zach Lahn was asked whether he would consider banning all mRNA vaccines in Iowa.

"Absolutely, absolutely I would," he said, to applause, according to KCRG. Iowa Public Radio reported that all four candidates at that debate "said they would be open to banning all mRNA vaccines."

This week, with Election Day five days away, KCRG asked him whether he still believes all mRNA vaccines should be banned.

"I never said that," Lahn answered.

The record

The January answer wasn't a slip that only one reporter caught. Radio Iowa's write-up of that debate ran under the headline "Four GOP candidates for Iowa governor back mRNA vaccine ban." It reported that Lahn said he would pull all COVID shots off the market in Iowa and end all childhood vaccine requirements tied to school enrollment. He also said: "We cannot trust the medical establishment in Iowa anymore. They have lost our trust."

KCRG reports that after his "Absolutely" answer, Lahn went on to detail risks he sees in COVID-19 vaccines and said the medical establishment can't be trusted.

That was the Republican primary, in front of a Moms for Liberty crowd. Lahn won it.

The new version

Now Lahn is running in a general election against Democrat Rob Sand, in front of all Iowa voters. His story has changed.

He told KCRG the only mRNA vaccines on the market "when we were talking about that was the COVID vaccine." He said he has always been clear the COVID vaccine should be pulled, and called the claim that he'd ban all of them "a lie."

He's also suddenly open to the technology. At an October debate in Davenport, KCRG reports, Lahn backed using mRNA as a cancer treatment. And on Wednesday he said personalized immunotherapies could help Iowans if they prove safe: "If they are promising, we need them in the state of Iowa."

That's a long way from "Absolutely, absolutely I would."

Why it matters

There are two problems here, and Lahn can only pick one of them.

If he meant it in January, he wanted to ban the same technology he now says could treat cancer — and he's hiding that from general-election voters.

If he didn't mean it, he told a room full of primary voters what they wanted to hear, collected the applause, and is now calling anyone who repeats his own words a liar.

Either way, his plan for the rest of Iowa's vaccines hasn't changed. As we've reported, Lahn wants to end every childhood vaccine requirement in Iowa schools — during the worst measles year since 1991.

What the record shows

At a January primary debate, Zach Lahn answered "Absolutely, absolutely I would" when asked whether he'd consider banning all mRNA vaccines in Iowa, and Radio Iowa's headline on that debate said four GOP candidates backed an mRNA vaccine ban. Five days before the general election, he told KCRG "I never said that," called the claim "a lie," and said mRNA-based treatments could benefit Iowans. He still says the COVID vaccine should be pulled from the market.