Patrick Leahy: “we had interesting news in Vermont this morning. Our Governor, Governor Scott, announced that we have reached 80 percent…”

“we had interesting news in Vermont this morning. Our Governor, Governor Scott, announced that we have reached 80 percent immunity--vaccinations--and so the State will, in effect, reopen. Now, I mention this because, right from the beginning, I have worked closely with our Governor. We have tried to show no partisanship in this. I am a Democrat; he is a Republican. We are both, first and foremost, Vermonters. And restrictions were put in place. Efforts were made to vaccinate. I know my wife Marcelle and I went to some of these vaccination centers. We had everybody from Vermont National Guard to veterans groups, to schools, to nurses who were volunteering all over those places. And everybody would line up, and they would say: ``I am scheduled for 9:20. I will be there at 9:10,'' and they just went through, and people wanted to get the vaccination. It meant some hardships while it was going on because a lot of our businesses could not open or had to open just in limited ways. But--but they kept at it, and we all worked together to help with aid to the State during the COVID time, and I was proud of what I might be able to do, but I am mostly proud of the Vermonters. They set politics aside; they set partisanship aside; and they said: How would it make us a safer State? So I just thought I would note that, all my trips back home, all the times I joined with the various people--Dr.…”