CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire would be prohibited from mandating vaccines and its vaccine registry would switch from an opt-out to an opt-in system under two bills before a House committee Monday.
The House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee held public hearings on two bills sponsored by Rep. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton. While several speakers brought up the COVID-19 vaccine, Lang said neither was inspired specifically by the coronavirus pandemic.
The first would declare an “inalienable right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion that the person accepts any medical intervention, including immunization.” Lang said he objects to state rules requiring foster parents to be vaccinated against certain diseases.
“We can yell about this bill to death, and ‘what if’ this bill to death, but the bottom line is, you believe that an individual has the right to choose what they get poked with, what they’re cut open with, and that the state can never mandate or force medical procedures on an individual, or you don’t,” he said. “I believe that I have the right, and every individual in New Hampshire, has the right to make that choice.”
Opponents took issue with a section of the bill that states that no person may be discriminated against for refusing a vaccine, noting that hospitals require employees to be vaccinated against the flu and the state requires certain vaccines for schoolchildren, although there are religious and medical exemptions.
“The communicable disease statutes in New Hampshire protect and support individuals to make choices,” said Patricia Tilley, deputy director of the state division of public health. “But our laws also protect individuals from the decisions of others. Vaccine requirements protect those who are compromised.”
Multiple physicians spoke against the bill, while supporters included several people who said they moved to New Hampshire from New York in search of “medical freedom” after New York ended its religious exemption for vaccines.
“New Hampshire stands as a beacon of freedom, and we fled here because we believe the ‘Live Free or Die’ state will stand up to tyranny and defend and respect everyone’s right to make their own medical decisions about their own bodies,” said Leslie Nuchow.
The second bill would prohibit the state from collecting a patient’s data for its new vaccine registry unless a patient specifically chooses to participate. Under current law, patients are given the opportunity to opt out. Lang said the bill is in line with a 2018 amendment to the state constitution establishing a “right to privacy.” Opponents argued that the registry rules shouldn’t be changed before it has even gotten off the ground, and that the opt-out provision adequately protects privacy.
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