GOP New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Sunday said getting a COVID-19 vaccine has to be a “personal choice” — and blamed the media for polarizing the issue of vaccine hesitancy.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sununu said the ultimate decision on getting a shot “should be data driven.”
“I don’t think it’s a party thing or political thing,” he said of the refusal of some people to get the shot. “It has to be a personal choice of course. I think the media, not to put the blame anywhere, I think we all as a society take a bit of the blame in terms of polarizing and politicizing something that shouldn’t be. It should be data driven.”
According to Sununu, “we’re incredibly transparent … showing folks whose data we’re looking at.”
“I tend not to look at it as Republican versus Democrat thing. As a country, we all have to get on board, get vaccinated and get our boosters and making sure we’re promoting the positive message,” he said.
Sununu also blasted President Joe Biden’s social program and climate spending in the Build Back Better bill as “an absolute disaster.”
“Washington is about pushing this money up for political reasons,” he charged. “At the end of the day you have to make sure every state has the right balance.”
For example, he said in New Hampshire, residents need child care help, not so much a child tax credit. Also, he added, the state doesn’t need rental assistance — “actual bricks and mortar.”
“Washington can set the opportunities but leave it to the states to have the flexibility to build the systems to best meet their needs,” he said.
Sununu also decried the “crippling” inflation that affecting his state’s residents.
“If you’re elderly and on fixed income, you’re nervous about how you’ll heat your home. If you’re a lower or moderate income family, you’re worried about the fact you got to pay $3.75 a gallon or heating oil. You get a domino reaction of bad effects,” he lamented.
“The issue is about inflation,” he said, adding: “We need to open up more opportunities on fuel.”
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