TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey State Senator Michael Testa today took offense to a comment made by Governor Phil Murphy comparing unvaccinated New Jerseyans to drunk drivers.
“I think it is selfish. I think there are obviously some people who have a legitimate reason that they’re not vaccinated or boosted, so I’m going to put that group aside,” Murphy said. “I think it’s a shirking of our collective responsibility. I do think it’s akin to drunk driving. You’re not only putting yourself at risk, you’re putting other people at risk.”
Testa said Governor Murphy was wrong to say that being unvaccinated is “akin to drunk driving.”
“Governor Murphy is absolutely wrong to compare being unvaccinated to driving drunk, especially when Omicron is both infecting and being transmitted by vaccinated people at high rates,” said Testa (R-1). “It’s telling that he’s now resorting to increasingly extreme rhetoric to try to justify his unpopular and unscientific vaccine mandates. Republicans are constantly accused of not following the science, yet it’s the governor who repeatedly refuses to accept data that doesn’t support his executive orders.”