Twitter Suspends Sen. O'Scanlon For Criticizing Vaccine Passports

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Republican Monmouth County state Senator Declan O'Scanlon was suspended from Twitter over the weekend, after he posted a June 25 tweet criticizing vaccine passports and mandatory vaccinations for coronavirus.

As of Monday morning, O'Scanlon said he deleted the tweet, has been reinstated by Twitter but he is asking for the social media giant to publicly apologize and publicly explain what was problematic in his tweet.

O'Scanlon posted the following on June 25: “Given that we have crushed Covid with combination of natural immunity and voluntary uptake there is no reason anyone should be compelled to take the vaccine. Restrictions/mandates/vaccine passports all uncalled for.”

O'Scanlon said Twitter suspended his account for 12 hours Saturday for the tweet. Twitter sent him a message saying that that specific tweet "violated the Twitter rules." His account was reinstated Sunday night after he agreed to take the June 25 tweet down, he said.

O'Scanlon said he took it down "because if you appeal Twitter's decision, your account remains frozen and cannot be used for weeks or months while you are appealing. You're better off acquiescing and and just removing it. Which also I don't think is fair. So they forced me to take the tweet down," he told Patch.

"But Twitter was wrong here," he continued. "Either there's something wrong with their algorithm or they have an agenda. My opinion is a reasonable one. And here's my definition of 'crushed' COVID. We've had a dramatic reduction in cases. I'm not saying COVID is still not a problem. It is. But we certainly have crushed it enough to avoid any legitimate calls for mandatory vaccines and vaccine passports."

O'Scanlon, who lives in Little Silver, also spoke about how many people, most of them Republicans, are finding themselves kicked off Facebook or Twitter, most notably President Donald Trump.

"I think it's a serious problem," he said. "As much as these companies are private entities, they're the town square; they are public forums. We need to err on the side of permitted free range of speech and open public discussion. It should be extraordinary circumstances when someone is banned. Censorship happened to me. And if an innocuous communication like mine can be censored, who else is being canceled?"

Over the past sixteen months, O'Scanlon has been highly critical of how Gov. Murphy handled the pandemic. The Republican lawmaker often takes to his Twitter account to criticize forced business shutdowns, restaurant capacity restrictions and the forced wearing of masks in schools.

The New Jersey Republican Party criticized Twitter's decision.

Bob Hugin, who ran for U.S. Senate in New Jersey and lost, and is now chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman, blasted Twitter.

“This appalling suppression of free speech is an assault on our democracy, and is as unacceptable as it is un-American. I call on Twitter to reinstate Senator Declan O’Scanlon's account immediately," said Hugin on Saturday, before Twitter reinstated his account.

"In expressing opposition to mandatory vaccine passports, Senator O’Scanlon gave voice to the many New Jerseyans who have legitimate concerns about privacy and civil liberties by being required to show proof of vaccination to participate in everyday activities," said Hugin.

Last Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled an app where New Jersey residents can now access their COVID-19 vaccination cards. The Department of Health partnered with Docket to allow those vaccinated to access their records.

"To be absolutely clear, this is not a passport," said Gov. Murphy last week, as Patch reported. "Docket is intended to solely give residents easy access to their COVID vaccination record, especially if their COVID vaccination card has been damaged or lost."

O'Scanlon represents the thirteenth legislative district, which includes Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Fair Haven, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Little Silver, Marlboro, Middletown, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Sea Bright, Rumson and Union Beach.

The thirteenth legislative district has been represented by Republicans for a long time; 1991 was the last time residents in this part of Monmouth County sent a Democrat to represent them in Trenton.

O'Scanlon is up for re-election this year; he is being challenged by Democrat Vincent "Vinny" Solomeno, a U.S. Army veteran.

Related: New NJ App Shows Your COVID Vaccination Record (July 12)

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