Cara Hathaway left her job as a speech therapist because she couldn’t work in a hospital and speak out against the vaccine manufacturers she believes are doing more harm than good, she said.

A bad reaction to the vaccine for human papillomavirus and a miscarriage after she was vaccinated for the flu motivated Hathaway to learn more about what has become a heated national debate over whether vaccinations should be required for schoolchildren and adults in some workplaces.

Public health experts and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are clear: vaccines are safe and effective. Still, fears of side effects and chronic illness have stoked a vocal anti-vaccination movement that came to the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday. Get the news delivered to your inbox: Sign up for our politics newsletter

About 120 activists, many of them wearing red, listened in the atrium as a panel of speakers described the ways they believe regulators and pharmaceutical companies are hiding the truth about damage caused by vaccines.

The anti-vaccine event’s headliner was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the founder of Children’s Health Defense who has become the celebrity face of the national anti-vaccine movement.

“We have the most aggressive vaccine schedule in the world, and we have the sickest children in the developed world,” Kennedy said at the event, chastising pharmaceutical companies, regulators and lawmakers.

Rep. Ron Hood, R-Ashville, is sponsoring a bill that would prevent employers from taking adverse action against workers who refuse to be vaccinated for medical reasons or “reasons of conscience,” including religious beliefs.

Similar proposals targeting flu shots have fizzled in committees in previous sessions of the General Assembly. Listen to the latest Buckeye Forum politics podcast:

The Ohio Hospital Association is “concerned that this legislation threatens the health and safety of patients, employees and the community,” said John Palmer, the organization’s spokesman, in an email.

The American Medical Association expanded its policy this month to advocate for regulations and policies to incentivize states to eliminate non-medical exemptions from mandated pediatric immunizations.

At the Statehouse, supporters lauded Hood’s bill and spoke out against an amendment in the Senate version