In an interview with Chris Ryan, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu discusses the impact of the pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, gives details of his plans to relax the state’s COVID restrictions, explains his school reopening policy, and describes the state budget process.
Governor Sununu is puzzled and concerned by the decision of the FDA-Food and Drug Administration and the CDC-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. To date, 6.8 million have received the Johnson & Johnson and 6 women have developed blood clots and one person has died.
The Governor wasn’t satisfied with Dr. Fauci’s answer when he asked him why they were pausing the use of this successful, one shot vaccine when there was a very remote chance of complications.
“Dr. Fauci acknowledged that this is a one in a million, low risk event. That’s why I pushed back and said, ‘Then why are you doing it?’ and they had no answer.”
Governor Sununu went on to say, “Either something else is there and they are not telling us, or they’d better be quick about giving us an answer.”
The fact that the number of people who might have been on the fence about getting vaccinated is now growing, as a result of the Johnson & Johnson pause, is a cause of concern for Governor Sununu.
“It’s so hard to reinstill confidence after something like this into something which is so important in getting our states and our country back on track.”
Fortunately, the Governor says that there is enough of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to replace the Johnson & Johnson vaccination appointments which had been scheduled. However, those vaccinations require two shots, and the Johnson & Johnson was easier to use in underserved communities because it only required one shot.
When he was asked if this disruption in the delivery of vaccinations will change his timetable for reopening the state by Memorial Day, Governor Sununu said that the easing restrictions, like the mask mandate, remain on schedule.
Originally, the Governor predicted that only 45-50% of the state was choosing to get vaccinated. He was pleased to report that recent data shows that the number might be closer to 65-70% of Granite Staters will get the vaccine.
In regard to his mandate to reopen schools by April 19th, Governor Sununu explained that about 90-95% of the 550 schools in the state were planning to reopen by that date, and about thirty schools have asked for a waiver, mostly due to staffing issues. Some districts, like Manchester, were granted waivers; and others, like Dover, were not.
The Governor emphasized the importance of getting students as much time as possible in an actual classroom.
“If schools don’t meet the April 19th deadline and they haven’t been given a waiver, their hours just don’t count. They have to find another way to make up those days or hours.”
In the final segment of the interview, Governor Sununu broke down how the “Biden Bucks” from the American Rescue Plan and the infrastructure bill will be incorporated into the New Hampshire state budget. The Governor expects to use these one-time federal funds to pay for some projects. He is confident that State Senate will produce a budget which will be balanced and will have across the board tax cuts.