New Hampshire Governor Deflects Concerns About Federal Vaccine Contracts

CONCORD, NH — During a news conference just hours after anti-vaccine protesters shut down a meeting between the governor and Executive Council on Manchester, New Hampshire’s governor chastised them for making state employees feel threatened, calling them misinformed about language in federal contracts that he said did not put the state’s sovereignty at risk.

At issue is a federal contract worth $27 million to hire 13 new temporary full-time state employees to manage immunizations in the state through 2023 as well as money to fund public health centers in Manchester and Nashua. Two weeks ago, the contracts were tabled. At the meeting in Manchester, held at Saint Anselm’s Institute of Politics, Terese Grinnell, a nurse and anti-COVID-19 vaccine activist, who has been organizing protests outside of Concord Hospital for weeks, and also cornered other state politicians at a news conference that turned into a protest on Sept. 14, outside of the Statehouse, as well as others, began protesting during the meeting.

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During the news conference, Gov. Chris Sununu said, while New Hampshire had a very open political process when compared to other states, disruptions that led to many state employees feeling threatened were unacceptable and would not be tolerated. He was critical of the “unruly, very aggressive individuals,” and said their concerns raised about the contracts were not accurate. Sununu said the money would be used to assist the state to navigate the coronavirus pandemic.

Sununu said nearly every other state had accepted the money and all states had vaccine registrations with New Hampshire being the last state to create one. He called them “successful” and “virtually no one in any of those other states” thinks it will infringe on anyone’s rights. Sununu said language tied to the federal funds would not restrict New Hampshire from continuing to handle the pandemic in the best manner possible for Granite Staters.

“These are very important contracts,” he said.

A lot of the concern, he said, was a specific paragraph in the contract, which stated that by accepting the funds, New Hampshire would support the United States in its quarantine and enforcement efforts. Sununu challenged the fear about the language in the contract calling it boilerplate, standard, and vague, adding it would not force New Hampshire to do anything.

“I would never allow that to be the case,” Sununu said. “That has never been the case. It is unequivocally untrue.”

Watch: Sununu is asked about the language in this back and forth with journalists.

Other contracts contain similar language, he said.

Sununu said the state would continue with plans for a lawsuit to fight the OSHA requirement of companies with 100 employees or more to require their employees to be vaccinated.

Coronavirus Updates

Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state’s epidemiologist, said booster doses for people who took the Pfizer vaccination would soon be available for “certain at-risk individuals.” He said recent deaths in the state were community-related not connected to long-term care facilities. Chan said the goal for public health would still be to get the population fully vaccinated and urged those who have had their first shot, about 5.5 percent of the state’s residents, to get their second shots.

Chan also said previously infected people “do have some immunity of recurrent infection” but they were still recommending those people, about 8.5 percent of the state’s residents, get vaccinated. He added that flu shots would be available soon and public health was recommending those, too.

Lori Shibinette, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, closed six outbreaks in the state but add three more. She said while the state was still performing contact tracing, and as many investigations as possible, officials would be transitioning to full investigations of “transmission pathways.” Shibinette said there was a shortage of testing resources but the state would be setting up four sites during the next three to four weeks, mostly near urban settings since the volume of infections is expected to increase.

Sununu said the state was “well situated” to continue to be successful at navigating the pandemic but did raise concerns about potential nursing shortages due to hospitals being pressured by the federal government to have staffers vaccinated or lose federal funding. He said the companies, including nonprofit ones, were “private entities” and he would not force them, as governor, to either preserve the jobs of nurses and staffers not wanting to get vaccinated or forcing them to vaccinate everyone. Sununu called nurses a specialized career and not a job someone pulled off the street could perform. He said he would continue to speak with the hospital CEOs, the association, and others to ensure Granite Staters had access to the highest quality health care.

Sunun said the executive council meeting would be rescheduled to another location at a future date.

Questions & Answers

Sununu was asked about his communications with Grinnell, something he confirmed but did not regret saying people should be having conversations.

Chan was asked about whether or not people who had Moderna shots could get the Pfizer booster shots, and he said, No.

Sununu was asked about his recent health episode and a political trip to California and he said he was not worried about getting sick while there. He said the event was fun and he told fellow Republicans that it was important to “be genuine.” Sununu also spoke to some businesses who he hoped would expand in the state.

Sununu was asked about clusters of infections in Manchester and whether the New Hampshire Department of Education or State Board of Education were superseding their roles in requiring in-class learning. He said he supported local control but remote learning was an opportunity, not a crutch, and needed to be temporary.

“You won’t get the best results for those kids teaching remotely,” he said. “The best education is for those kids to be in the classroom … no like it was last year.”

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