.png)
A new report from NHPR shows that Governor Sununu knowingly touted false COVID vaccination numbers in an effort to raise his national profile ahead of a potential run for US Senate. According to NHPR, despite knowing and acknowledging that CDC numbers about New Hampshire’s vaccination rate vaccinations were wrong, Sununu continued to tout them in campaign Facebook ads and to national media.
It’s the latest example of Sununu abusing his position to puff up his profile and further his political ambitions — at the expense of Granite Staters. In April, Sununu awarded a half million dollar, no-bid contract for a massive taxpayer-funded vaccination ad campaign starring him — despite research showing that elected officials are not effective messengers on COVID-19 vaccines.
Read the full report here: NHPR: N.H. Looked Like a Leader on COVID-19 Vaccines. But ‘Data Errors’ Might Have Inflated Its Progress.
Key Excerpts:
“But as state officials were boasting about New Hampshire’s progress, the state’s own vaccine totals veered widely from those reported by the CDC.”
“Nonetheless, Sununu kept talking about the state’s comparatively speedy vaccine rollout in national news outlets and Facebook ad campaigns, where he said New Hampshire had the ‘fastest vaccination rate in the country.’ The data was also used to steer policy decisions, like lifting the statewide mask mandate in mid-April, earlier than any other state in the Northeast.”
“‘I'm not sure exactly where the CDC gets all their data,’ Sununu said at an April 22 press conference. ‘I can tell you, in terms of getting the vaccines out, we keep track of our data, our numbers that come in. I think they're very accurate and the folks have done a great job, and New Hampshire keeps crushing it.’ “At the same time, Sununu continued to make claims that relied on federal data to illustrate New Hampshire’s supposed success compared to the rest of the nation.”
“In fact, over the past month, the CDC had to correct New Hampshire’s vaccination numbers several times.”
“Other states don’t appear to have seen the same kind of revisions, according to the CDC’s records.”
###
Comments