Pennacchio Condemns Senate’s Arbitrary Vaccine Mandates Rules

During the Senate session today, Senator Joe Pennacchio berated Senate Democrats for refusing to acknowledge flaws and contradictions in their State House vaccine rules.

See Pennacchio’s comments, as prepared, below:

“Last session, myself and other Republicans rose and spoke out against the new misguided, mandated vaccine policies to enter the State House. Citing historical science and studies, we tried to impress upon you how these mandates based on vaccines do not prevent a person from getting or giving COVID.

“Although called vaccines, MRNAs are not true vaccines by historical scientific definitions. We pointed out how the new edicts did not recognize the importance of acquired natural immunity in the fight against Covid.

“Less than one week ago, an article written by Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, cited a new Israeli study of 6 million people that showed that protection from a Covid vaccine is far weaker than natural acquired immunity and those who have natural immunity have better protection one year after being infected than those who had been vaccinated only three months prior.

“The same study pointed to the fact that those at much greater risk, those over 60, had better protection with natural immunity than even those younger who were vaccinated.

“A cruise ship recently experienced an outbreak of Covid even though 100 percent of the passengers and crew were fully vaccinated. This Senate and this Administration still chooses to disregard the science. It hears what it wants to hear and disregards the rest.

“Today, we find out that one of our members who was fully vaccinated has developed Covid. Of course, we all hope and wish our colleague a full and speedy recovery.  However, we told you so.

“Besides science, we tried to reason with the majority party that these new edicts fly in the face of our Constitutional, legal and moral obligations to represent our constituents in the people’s house. Instead of coming together and having adult conversations the majority party chose to double down on its game of political brinkmanship.

“Worse, they chose to drag in and chastise those who put their lives on the line, those who are sworn to protect us, our State Troopers.

“What I find most disappointing is the lack of Senate engagement in addressing Covid issues since the spring of 2020. This body has chosen to sit silently on the sidelines allowing the administration to shutter businesses, issue edicts and count the dead.

“Almost 29,000 total dead – 10,000 in nursing homes. Now this Senate has decided to join in and pile on with non-science rules of their own. History will not judge the legislature or this Administration well.  There will be a day of reckoning.”