After heated debate, the Democrat Senate candidate will decide ‘soon’ whether she’ll require kindergarten kids to get vaccinated against measles and other diseases
Now in her eighth day as an American senator, Maggie Hassan has joined her Democratic colleagues to pass a bill that would require children to get vaccinations against measles and other diseases as part of a broader increase in vaccinations.
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For the 67 Democratic senators who voted in favor of the bill, it was an easy decision to take on political opponents who accuse the bill of being an attack on the rights of parents to make personal decisions about their children’s health. In the second half of the three-day session, some Democrats pushed for the bill to require vaccinations for some children as early as age two, but those demands were later dropped. The last day of the Senate is Sunday.
Hassan said this week that she will make her decision “soon” about whether to force mandatory vaccinations in her home state.
Her Republican opponent, Steve Marchand, used her vote against the bill to try to keep her in the party fold, and criticized the bill as potentially a violation of the constitution’s “separation of powers”.
In a video released by a political committee tied to Marchand on Friday, he said his opponent “decided to put her own political ambitions ahead of the people of New Hampshire”.
Democrats tried to remind voters that they support medical care for families as they have supported the bills since the year’s beginning.
Even though Democrats are the majority party in the Senate, Republicans hold the majority of seats.