BOSTON (AP). Republican Rep. Ken Weyler was well-known in New Hampshire for dismissing the health benefits of COVID-19 vaccinations and opposing tens to millions of federal funds to support vaccinations.
Republican leaders were forced to act when Weyler, a retired pilot and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, submitted a 52-page report comparing vaccines to organized mass killing.
It is absurd. I don't know anyone who would agree with it. It is absolute madness, stated Sherman Packard, Republican House Speaker, who accepted Weyler's resignation quickly from his position on the committee.
This episode was particularly affecting in New Hampshire, where the former House speaker died from COVID-19 last January. It also revealed the persistent struggle of Republicans to eradicate misinformation from its ranks throughout the country.
Surveys a year and half after the pandemic began show that Republicans are less concerned about COVID-19 and its variants, less confident science-wise, less likely to get vaccinated than Democrats, independents, and more opposed vaccine mandates.
This combination of views has clear risks for your health and could have serious political consequences. Republicans hope to win back New Hampshire's congressional seats next year. In New Hampshire, fringe views could distract voters from their party's agenda, driving away moderates and independents.
This is especially true in Live Free or Die New Hampshire where the fight for vaccines has activated libertarian wing. These divisions could dominate the Republican primaries next spring.
Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire said that it is worth wondering if all of this is just the tip of an iceberg.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, New Hampshire Republicans have struggled to unite around a common position.
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Republican Governor. While Chris Sununu is widely praised for his handling the pandemic, conservative critics have also criticized him. They have resisted his state of emergency that placed restrictions on business operations and public gatherings. This led to protests at Sununu's house as well as other areas.
Sununu, who plans to run against Democratic U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan for the Senate in 2016, joined other Republican leaders in opposing a federal vaccination mandate. His critics were not pleased with his actions, as they repeatedly yelled at fellow Republicans at a press conference held last month to protest the federal vaccine mandate.
The crowd took control of the podium, holding signs that said I would die if I didn't comply, and one protester was carrying an automatic weapon on his back.
One Republican lawmaker, Rep. William Marsh switched parties because of the opposition by Republican leaders to federal vaccine mandates.
Marsh, a former ophthalmologist and vice chair of the House Health and Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, stated that the belief being promoted is that individuals' rights over all else, and that no one can impose a vaccine mandate on anyone. Individual rights in civilized societies are limited if they interfere with the rights of others.
When he first asked Health and Human Services for data on hospitalizations in the state, the Weyler controversy began last month. The state's health commissioner accused him of spreading misinformation after he suggested that most hospitalized patients had been vaccinated. She said that 90% of the hospitalized were not vaccinated.
Gallup polling in September revealed that 57% of Democrats are worried about contracting the coronavirus, compared to 18% of Republicans. In comparison to 45% of Republicans, the Democrats are more optimistic that vaccines will protect them from new variants. They also have more faith in science (79%), which is higher than Republicans' 45%.
Weyler was one of a number of Republican lawmakers that were so against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates, they pushed for millions in federal funding to be rejected. This week, $27 million was rejected by a Republican-controlled Executive Council, a five-member panel that approves state contracts, despite calls from Sununu to accept the funding.
The money would have enabled the state to hire a public-health manager and 12 workers to address public vaccination concerns. Opponents feared that it would have made it mandatory for the state to follow any future directives from the Biden administration concerning COVID-19, including vaccine mandates.
Sununu had to rebut a suggestion that this was the new Republican Party position after the vote.
I don't believe that most protestors were Republican Party members. These are anti-government, shut-it-down, no-government-at-all-costs type individuals, he told reporters.
Rebuild NH was one of the opposition groups to the mandates. They responded Friday to the arrests of protesters attending the Executive Council meeting calling Sununu a despot, and demanding that he be punished for his involvement in the crime against New Hampshire.
Democrats have taken advantage of the GOP divisions and claimed that Republicans were too slow in seeking Weyler's resignation. They also accused Weyler and his coworkers of causing damage to the state's image, slowing vaccine efforts, and enabling antivaccine extremists.
Weyler's report claimed that shots were promoting the most organized mass murder in history. This included claims about vaccines containing living organisms, as well as unsubstantiated reports of babies born to vaccinated parents in South America with signs of premature age.
Mary Jane Wallner, a Democratic Representative, stated that she was shocked that anyone would send this report to her. She received it by email.
Weyler wrote that he was resigning so that he wouldn't be distracted and that he had not vetoed material that contained conspiracy theories.
When asked for more information, Weyler replied that he didn't have anything to add to The Associated Press.
Experts who examined the report found it full of misinformation and unsubstantiated claims pulled from social networks.
Al Ozonoff, associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and associate director at the Precision Vaccines Program Boston Childrens Hospital, stated in an email that there is no way for anyone, including me, to fact-check or assess the accuracy of statements contained."
The report authors include a doctor who falsely advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. They told the AP that they stand by their findings.
It doesn't make reality any less real. In an email interview, David Sorensen, one of the authors, stated that it just makes you blind and insensitive.
