InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/tag/vaccines/)
At a time when childhood immunization rates are declining nationally and Texas is
experiencing a serious measles outbreak, the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee heard testimony Wednesday on two vaccine bills.
The House Thursday passed bills that would add exemptions to the state’s new 24-week abortion ban passed last year and extended the COVID-19 vaccination exemption to state and county health care facilities despite warnings of the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal money and facility certification.
Among the rules are requirements that employers offer paid time off for workers to get vaccinated and a requirement that all employers with more than 100 employees to make sure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly, which will apply to about 100 million American workers.
As the state reported 310 new cases of COVID-19 in the state, and children and their families prepare for a return to school in the next few weeks, Gov. Chris Sununu pushed the need to get everyone who can to be fully vaccinated, warning that the fall could be a tough new chapter of the pandemic when people head indoors.