“Where there is a risk there should be a choice.” So said Representative Timothy Lang Sr. of Sanbornton, referring to House Bill 220, which he sponsored in the New Hampshire House. The bill would allow people to refuse vaccinations for religious or other reasons.
A Senate committee this week took up the bill which already passed the House on a voice vote. Its premise is that “Every person has the natural, essential, and inherent right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion that the person accepts any medical intervention, including immunization. No person may be compelled to receive an unwanted medical intervention, including immunization.”
Long a conviction of the “anti-vaxxers,” the sentiment gained some credence among others who previously had supported vaccinations when the CDC put a temporary hold on the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine amid new cases of blood clots forming in vaccinated people, causing at least one death. While the CDC points out that instances of such adverse reactions to the vaccine are very rare (six cases among more than 6.8 million Americans who have received a dose), advisors reviewing those cases chose on Wednesday not to vote on the vaccine’s safety until further research is completed. Several other countries have banned the vaccine after similar problems with blood clots that must be treated differently than typical blood clots.
Lang told the senate committee, “This bill is not going to affect vaccination rates,” citing the fact that New Hampshire has experienced a high percentage of people willing to be vaccinated against the pandemic.
The bill provides exclusions for certain cases where vaccinations may be required. It states that, notwithstanding its intentions, it “shall not supersede the requirement for vaccination as a prerequisite for admission to a school or child care agency pursuant to RSA 141-C:20-a II; supersede the involuntary emergency admission process pursuant to RSA 135-C:27-33; the revocation of conditional discharge process under RSA 135-C:51; or involuntary treatment of patients compliant with RSA 135-C:57 III.”
It also shall not limit “treatment authorized by a guardian over a person; or short-term treatment of a personal safety emergency declared by a licensed physician or nurse practitioner in a psychiatric care setting, or authorized by a surrogate decision-maker or durable power of attorney for health care delegated by the person while competent to make decisions for them during periods when they are not competent, pursuant to RSA 137-J.”
Finally, the bill provides that “Employers may only mandate medical treatment or immunization as a condition of employment when a direct threat exists as defined in 29 CFR 1630.2(r). The department of corrections may mandate medical treatment or immunization for inmates when a direct threat exists as defined in 29 CFR 1630.2(r).”
To Kill A Moose To Kill A Tick
State wildlife biologists are advocating an expansion of moose hunting in the hope that a smaller number of them would lead to a reduction in the number of ticks which, in turn, would lead to healthier animals.
New Hampshire would be following Vermont, where that state plans to issue 100 permits for the October hunt, up from 55 last year and none in 2019; and Maine, where the number of moose permits will increase 11 percent this year, to 3,480.
The recommendation for killing more moose is based on studies that show low moose birth rates as the number of ticks has increased. In some areas, fewer than half of moose calves survive their first winter.
The idea of culling deer herds to reduce the number of ticks was popularized on Block Island in Rhode Island, and has been discussed in Massachusetts as well. However, Tamara Awerbuch, an instructor in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard School of Public Health, and a specialist in emerging epidemics, disputes the efficacy of such an approach. Having done research on the life cycle of the deer tick in the 1990s, she said the ticks depend on another key host animal, white-footed mice, and the ticks contract Lyme disease as larvae when they feed on infected mice. Adult female ticks need the deer to lay their eggs and for food, but the deer do not carry the bacteria. “So as you killed deer, you would simply have more ticks per deer because the surface area of each is enough to support many ticks. Just killing deer won’t do the job,” she contends.
Substitute moose for deer and the idea of eradicating ticks by killing moose loses credibility.
Work On Nansen Ski Jump To Begin
The Nansen Ski Club and the Friends of the Big Nansen have announced that site work on the Big Nansen Ski Jump in Milan will begin by early summer.
CBS Squared, Inc., designed the improvements with the aim of allowing sanctioned jumping events to take place at what once was the largest ski jump in the nation. The design work was funded by a Northern Border Regional Commission Grant to meet modern ski-jumping guidelines.
Phase I of the plan will include improvements to the landing hill, while Phase II will focus on the jump structure. Future work will include a new judges’ stand and other amenities. Contractor Lee T. Corrigan, LLC will complete the Phase I improvements, which include reprofiling of the landing hill, building a concrete retaining wall at the jump take-off, and installation of a landing hill deflection system.
Built in 1936, the ski jump was built in 1936 and named after the Norwegian explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen. Situated on Route 16 just north of Berlin, it is now part of the Nansen Ski Jump Historic Site, a state park that also includes a picnic area and boat launch on the Adroscoggin River.
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