TRENTON, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy’s Statehouse lockdown is not based on science. It’s based on partisan politics. That’s what one New Jersey senator is saying today.
State Senator Joe Pennacchio is appealing to Democrat leadership to reconsider locking out legislators from the state complex if they fail to show “Covid Passports.”
“During this season of ‘good will,’ I am appealing to Democrat leaders to put aside their efforts of political brinkmanship and allow all legislators to perform their legal and constitutional obligations of serving the people we represent,” said Pennacchio (R-Morris, Essex, Passaic).
The Legislature has been notified that elected members will not be allowed into the State House Complex unless they provide proof of vaccination.
Pennacchio spoke out on the Senate floor during the Dec. 2 voting session, pointing out the lack of science behind orders to show Covid passports to get into the Senate Chamber. He pointed to the fact that the Covid vaccines do not prevent people from getting or transmitting the virus, and questioned why patients who have natural immunity acquired from a past infection are still required to show a Covid passport.
Pennacchio cited recent studies which have shown that those patients’ natural immunities are equal if not greater than the immunity of patients who have been vaccinated. A recent Israeli study showed natural immunity to be 13 times more protective than two Pfizer vaccine injections.
Senator Pennacchio also called out Democratic Leadership for failing to hold legislative oversight hearings focused on the 10,000 New Jersey nursing home deaths. To highlight the lack of legislative oversight, the Senator will be participating remotely from the Paramus Veterans Nursing home parking lot for the 10:30 a.m. Senate Economic Growth committee meeting Thursday.
“There seems to have been no concern when the state forced the Covid virus into nursing homes, prohibited testing and watched how it spread, killing frail and elderly residents. Now we see the opposite, a pseudo-science being applied to duly elected officials and preventing them from doing the people’s business,” concluded Senator Pennacchio.