New Hampshire Governor: D.C. ‘In A Bubble’ On Vaccine Mandate Harm: Video

CONCORD, NH — Republicans on New Hampshire’s Executive Council rejected $27 million worth of federal contracts for COVID-19 vaccine promotion and tracking assistance on Wednesday leading Gov. Chris Sununu to blast members of his own party.

Visibly frustrated during a news conference, the governor, who was previously a council member, said they were swayed by information that was not accurate and even conspiratorial in nature. Sununu noted 49 other states had accepted the money, with the same stipulations, and there were not any problems. At issue was language that appeared to some to relinquish state sovereignty after acceptance of the federal funds.

Sununu said the state’s efforts in fighting the pandemic and coronavirus had been quite successful but the rejection of the contracts was a step backward.

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“The state has accepted billions of dollars, in federal funding, with similar language and stipulations,” he said. “This exact same council has voted to approve those contracts with the exact same boilerplate language and will continue to contracts come forward with the exact same language that is held in question.”

Sununu said the funds would have been used to promote the COVID-19 vaccines, bolster regional health centers, and assist in tracking the processes. Those orgs, he added, now have to find “other avenues” for funding to implement the vaccine. He called the fears levied by the protesters to be “conspiracy theories with no rational, logical reasoning” and said he and officials “pushed as hard as we could” to convince members otherwise. Sununu said the federal funding were contracts that “all our taxpayers paid for.”

The contracts were rejected after council members were bombarded by emails and phone calls, as well as protesters attending hearings, which led to one meeting being shut down two weeks ago. The council’s only Democrat, Cinde Warmington, the District 2 member and an attorney from Concord, voted for the contracts.

Not long after the rejected contract, Democrats sent out a flurry of press releases denouncing the Republicans as well as Sununu for not being able to control members of his own party and taking advantage of spectacle with heightened rhetoric. One, from state Rep. Renny Cushing (D-Hampton), claimed “the circus within” the GOP was “costing Granite Staters their lives.” However, the governor countered, not unlike some fringe groups on the left of the political spectrum, the protesters concerned about the contracts were not rank-and-file Republicans. Many, he said, were just anti-government.

Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state’s epidemiologist, was asked about the comments, especially in light of the fact that the “sluggish” vaccination process in New Hampshire was more about people already making personal health care choices and not lack of knowledge.

NH State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan responds to a question about whether or not the rejection of $27 million in federal vaccine tracking would cost people their lives.

Chan said that was partially true and some residents, especially children under 12, did not have access to the vaccine yet. However, he said, there were some sectors of the population who still needed to be reached out to about access.

Chan could not give an estimate on how many people would die due to the rejection of the contract. He also could not speculate on when New Hampshire would reach herd immunity despite close to 70 percent of residents, the traditional threshold for presumed herd immunity before the vaccine was available, either becoming vaccinated or having been infected by the coronavirus.

During the past week, there has been a lot of discussion in political circles around the state about the lack of “open” news conferences by the state’s federal delegation, with Sununu commenting that he had answered more questions from journalists in New Hampshire about federal issues than elected members of Congress and the Senate. Sununu was asked about whether or not he had privately spoken to the delegation about the hardships and concerns raised by the federal vaccine mandate and he said, No. The governor said he had written letters but when pressed about the harm the mandates could cause to the tourism industry, in light of the recent Southwest Airlines pilot and flight attendant union work stoppage, which led to more than 1,000 flights canceled, he said he might consider calling delegation members.

Gov. Chris Sununu answers questions about federal vaccine mandates harming New Hampshire residents, workers, and the economy, in the wake of thousands of travelers being stranded during a Southwest Airlines work stoppage last week.

Other Information

Sununu and Lori Shibinette, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said there was added pressures on hospitals and clinics currently, mostly around testing and oxygen access, especially in the North Country.

While he did not want to speculate on specifics, Sununu said he would likely veto any proposed changes by the Legislature to the state's vaccine registry bill.

Vaccines will soon be available for children between 5 and 12, according to officials.

Sununu said officials would continue to promote NH Made products “as much as we can” especially in the wake of supply chain issues on foreign imports and other products. He said workforce issues were a large concern for employers, especially Granite State manufacturers, and added that the state was also looking for opportunities to streamline its hiring processes to make it easier to fill needed positions.

While a number of outbreaks in the state had closed, many more were opened, including at the Merrimack County Nursing Home, where one staffer and 10 residents were infected — despite county commissioners approving of a vaccine mandate by Oct. 1 and firing employees who refused to get the vaccine.

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