Anti-vax legislation by New Hampshire Republicans has cleared one house and appears headed for the governor's desk.
Republican-controlled New Hampshire appears poised to become the first in the nation to remove restrictions requiring children to receive a base level of vaccination against things like measles, polio, and the mumps to gain admittance to public school. Many states have religious exemptions, and California recently had to tighten up rules around this. Anti-vax parents all suddenly found god.
New Hampshire could soon beat Florida—known for its anti-vaccine Surgeon General—when it comes to loosening vaccine requirements. A first-in-the-nation bill that's already passed New Hampshire's state House, sponsored only by Republican legislators, would end the requirement for parents enrolling kids in childcare to provide documentation of polio and measles vaccination. New Hampshire would be the only state in the US to have such a law, although many states allow religious exemptions to vaccine requirements.
Currently, Republicans control New Hampshire's state House, Senate and governor's office—but that isn't a guarantee that the bill will be signed into law, with GOP Gov. Chris Sununu seemingly flip-flopping when it comes to disease control. Sununu did sign a bill in 2021 allowing people to use public places and services even if they did not receive the Covid-19 vaccine. But the next year, the governor vetoed a bill that would bar schools from implementing mask mandates.
The polio vaccine, first offered in 1955, and the MMR shot, which treats the highly infectious measles, mumps, and rubella viruses, are two very crucial vaccines both in the US and internationally. Since the year 2000 alone, vaccines against measles are estimated to have saved over 55 million lives around the world.
Mother Jones
Previously: New ska punk supergroup comprised of infamous anti-vaxxers sadly not called The Covidiots
