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Concord, N.H. -- New Hampshire’s vaccine rollout continues to lag behind neighboring states as Massachusetts announces today that it will allow all residents 16 years or older to begin registering for the vaccine by April 19th. New Hampshire does not have a definitive date for when the general public can register for the vaccine. According to New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services, Granite Staters in Phase 3 -- which includes people younger than 50 years old with at least one medical condition and the rest of the general public -- can register for the COVID vaccine starting in “May and beyond,” while Massachusetts announced that starting April 19th, residents 16 years and older can register for the vaccine. Massachusetts is also ahead of New Hampshire in terms of the percentage of the population vaccinated. According to updated data from Bloomberg, Massachusetts’ vaccination rate is 38.2 percent while New Hampshire’s is only 34.7 percent. In addition, Massachusetts food service and grocery store workers can register for the vaccine starting on March 22, while Governor Sununu has received criticism for going against CDC recommendations and not prioritizing grocery store workers, teachers, and other essential workers in Phase 1b. Despite trailing behind Massachusetts’s vaccination rates, Sununu has repeatedly attacked Massachusetts’ vaccine rollout. In January, Sununu said, “I feel bad for Governor Baker, I know they're struggling with their system a lot.” Then in February during an interview with Jack Heath Sununu said, “I know those folks are paying attention a lot to the stories out of Massachusetts and our, and states around us that are having other problems.” When talking to Dan Mitchell on WKBK, Sununu called Massachusetts’s rollout “a disaster” and said, “We're not in the boat like Massachusetts is. I can't even speak to that mess.” “Massachusetts is well on its way to vaccinating all of its residents while 650,000 Granite Staters in Phase 3 still do not have a definitive date from Governor Sununu for when they can register for the vaccine,” said Senator Cindy Rosenwald. “Governor Sununu should explain why New Hampshire has fallen behind even Massachusetts in getting the vaccine out.”
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