President Joe Biden came to Woodstock, New Hampshire, on Tuesday to speak of the benefits of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill he had signed into law a day earlier. Standing on one of the 215 bridges in the state that have been deemed structurally unsafe, he said “Clean water, access to the internet, rebuilding bridges —everything in this bill matters to the individual lives of real people. This is not something abstract.”
Yet in Concord, “real people” came to the State House to oppose the president’s vaccine mandate that requires businesses of 100 or more employees to require that they either get vaccinated or, alternatively, get tested against the coronavirus on a weekly basis. Many were in the healthcare field and testified about the shortcomings of the vaccines — their inability to provide full immunity, their declining efficacy over time, and possible side effects that may last a lifetime.
Among those testifying against government overreach were Karen Testerman of Franklin, Russ Payne or Meredith, Connie Hartman of Wolfeboro, Sherry Melville of Belmont, Patricia Jorgensen of Northfield, John Sellers of Bristol, and Lea Lahey of Tilton, all opposed to the vaccine mandate.
Less than a dozen people spoke against the amendment proposed by Russ Ladd of Haverhill, chair of the House Education Committee, and the committee went on to pass the amendment, 11-8, prohibiting businesses, churches, and private organizations from imposing vaccine requirements.
House Speaker Sherman Packard of Londonderry issued a statement saying, “Today’s vote relative to HB255 — coinciding with President Biden’s visit — sent a message loud and clear: Granite Staters will not be ruled by an unconstitutional mandate. When it comes to standing up for what’s right, New Hampshire has always led the way. We will continue to do that — together. … [T]he President has shown his ineptitude to lead. He has instead chosen to rule by mandates. That is not the New Hampshire way — and today’s small victory proved that.”
David Juvet, senior vice-president of Public Policy with the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire, testified, “I would ask all of you to remember that there are a lot of employers in the state who are in a very difficult position right now, and it will be even more difficult if this proposal passes the House and the Senate and is signed into law. Right now the law of the land is that employers of 100 employees or more, or those who are healthcare providers who receive Medicaid and Medicare dollars, or those who have federal contracts are under a mandate to have their employees vaccinated. Or, if they opt out, to have them tested once a week to show that they are COVID-free. They don’t have the ability to just ignore that federal mandate.”
Democrats on the committee pointed out that the amendment prevents businesses and other entities from taking measures to keep their employees safe, which could lead others to quit their jobs, exacerbating the labor shortage.
After the vote, Democrat David Luneau of Hopkinton said, “Today, we heard extreme testimony from both the public and our colleagues repeating disinformation on the COVID vaccine. Let’s be clear, the COVID vaccine is safe and effective. It is the right of companies, schools, and organizations to protect their patrons and employees from a virus that has taken the lives of over 750,000 Americans. Denying private businesses and organizations this right is not the New Hampshire way.”
However, Ladd and many in the audience at the State House spoke of the constitutional right to act on one’s conscience. Ladd quoted a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling that “the rights of conscience can’t be surrendered to government, nor could society or government have any plan to assume to take them away or interfere with them,” and a 1937 court ruling stating, “the rights of conscience and religion are unalienable rights that should not be trampled upon by a single stroke of any administrator’s pen.”
That the amendment would deny the “rights of conscience” if conscience dictates asking people to get vaccinated to protect other workers, patients, church-goers, and historical societies was not recognized by those casting their votes in favor of the measure.
It is a fine balance to weigh individual rights against the rights of others. The federal mandate may be too severe, but the amendment passed by the House Education Committee also denies people the ability to make their own decisions. Perhaps as the bill makes its way through the full House and Senate, a better balance will be achieved.
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