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A new report from WCAX finds that New Hampshire’s vaccination campaign is lagging behind Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts, with a smaller percentage of Granite Staters receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine than in neighboring states.
For weeks Governor Sununu has faced questions about what he is doing to get more Granite Staters vaccinated. Sununu chose to spend much of the state’s funds on a massive taxpayer-funded ad campaign starring himself — which research has shown is ineffective at actually getting people vaccinated. Sununu also faced scrutiny after a report from NHPR exposed that he knowingly touted false COVID vaccination numbers in an effort to raise his national profile ahead of a potential run for US Senate.
Read more about New Hampshire’s lagging vaccine campaign:
Key Excerpts:
New Hampshire lags behind Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts when it comes to people getting their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and that has some health experts concerned.
More than 81% of eligible Vermonters have had one dose. All of our neighbors are in the 60% range, with New Hampshire the lowest at 60.6%.
Health care experts say the bottom line is that the number of people who get a COVID vaccine will directly affect what the new normal will look like.
“I understand people making their individual choices and would like to respect that as much as possible,” Corey Lasell said.
Lasell is one of the more than 720,000 Granite Staters who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But the Grafton resident is not exactly celebrating.
“You got to be a little worried that down the road, these pockets of people who are not vaccinated, all these new variants,” Lasell said. “Are we going to be continually having to get new shots year after year?”
A little more than 60% of New Hampshire residents have received one shot.
President Biden set a July 4 goal for the country of 70%, which is only two weeks away.
“Vaccine hesitancy is a big concern for us,” said Dr. Jose Mercado, the associate epidemiologist at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
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Read the entire story at WCAX.