Jennifer Bliss

I wish to express my opposition to the non-germane amendment #2026-1231h to SB572 which would prohibit any state agency or political subdivision from using public funds to advertise or otherwise promote vaccines. Vaccines have been developed to protect us from the ravages of serious diseases. I think people have forgotten just how debilitating and deadly some of these diseases can be. Vaccines protect the bulk of the population from unnecessary death or lifelong disability. This amendment reminds me of my grandmother. As a child my grandmother contracted polio and she survived but it was a continual battle. She was able to maintain some mobility and combat the paralysis by regularly swimming and exercising. Even with the exercise, she was unable to walk long distances and needed help with stairs. Whenever we went out as a family she brought her wheelchair and my grandfather pushed her around. My father built a small portable step that we kept in the family van for her to use to get in and out since the rise was too much for her to take all at once. Eventually her body just wore out and she died. It is offensive to me that the state of New Hampshire would even consider prohibiting state agencies from using public funds to encourage residents to protect themselves from suffering the life long disability that ultimately stole my grandmother. I think about the difficulties and obstacles she had to navigate because of her polio infection and I wonder who would not do everything in their power to spare their loved ones from those hardships. Vaccines are our best tools to protect communities and slow or stop the spread of diseases without the cost of widespread illness. We need to trust the long, careful scientific process that brought us vaccines, and we need to defeat this fear-based amendment that puts us a risk.