Sununu: Vaccine mandate ‘not good government,’ pledges to fight it in court

Story Produced by NH Public Radio, a Member of

CONCORD, NH – As Gov. Chris Sununu stressed the importance of COVID-19 vaccination, he criticized what he called President Joe Biden’s “unilateral” vaccine mandate for federal employees and some private businesses, and says the federal mandate would preempt any laws on the state level.

Speaking at a press conference at St. Joseph’s hospital in Nashua, Sununu said he’s working with other governors to pursue legal challenges to the mandate. He called the mandate “not good government.”

Sununu and state epidemiologist Ben Chan also offered a variety of other COVID updates. Sununu said a potential surge in cases this fall would likely be worse than last year. Chan emphasized the vast majority of deaths are in unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated people, and transmission is still at substantial levels across the state.

“Staffing is just as big of a crisis [as COVID] that we are dealing with,” Sununu noted, saying he was taking measures to fast track health care professionals en route to becoming fully licensed health care providers.

He said he planned to extend licenses to out-of-state nurses for 120 days and offer student licenses for those in their last year of RN and LPN programs.

Sununu also denounced today’s vote by the Executive Council to block funding to reproductive health centers that also provide abortion, calling it a “huge mistake.”

However, Sununu said there was likely not anything else he could have done to sway the vote.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.