My Turn: Anti-public health bills threaten NH’s present and future

By Kate Frey

This week, as the New Hampshire Legislature gathers to open the 2022 session, lawmakers will have to navigate not only the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to ravage our state, but also an unprecedented assault on New Hampshire’s public health system.

This session, more than 30 pieces of legislation have been introduced that, if passed into law, would undermine our public health infrastructure like never before. Together, these bills, which propose to weaken our highly effective childhood vaccine program and diminish our data collection systems, among other harmful efforts, would deeply impair our ability not only to overcome COVID-19, but also to prevent and address public health crises into the future.