Gov. Chris Sununu remains adamant that out-of-state college students should not be included in New Hampshire's current vaccine plan, even as the mayors and administrators of college towns are asking him to develop a plan to give vaccines to students who are from out of state.
"The logistics of students leaving the state for vaccinations and returning to our communities creates the potential for increased spread of the virus among our citizens," said the letter, dated Thursday and signed by leaders in Manchester, Nashua, Keene, Hanover, Plymouth, Henniker, New London and Durham.
Sununu said New Hampshire residents "have to come first," and that the out-of-state students are "not included in the mathematics that the federal government uses to provide us with the vaccine."
Specifically, Sununu said U.S. Census data does not include out-of-state students in the states where they go to school, and claimed the state is thus not getting enough vaccine supply to cover those students.
In fact, according to the U.S Census website, students are counted at the address where they reside while attending college.
Sununu also said he was unaware of other states vaccinating out-of-state college students. But every other New England states has now included out-of-state college students in their vaccine plans.
Vermont announced this week that out-of-state students will become eligible for vaccines later this month April 30th. And the Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner said Thursday that out-of-state students fit the state's residency requirements.
(Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.)
