COVID-19

Maine Lawmaker Compares Vaccine Mandate to Nazi Death Camp Doctor

Rep. Heidi Sampson's remarks were called "wildly unacceptable and inappropriate.''

Sergio Perez | Reuters

A group of Democrats wants a state Republican lawmaker to resign over comments in which she compared vaccine mandates to the Nazi doctor known as the "Angel of Death'' who performed experiments on Jews.

A letter called Rep. Heidi Sampson's remarks "wildly unacceptable and inappropriate.''

“Do I need to remind you of the late 1930s and into the ’40s in Germany and the experiments with Josef Mengele? What was it? A shot? These were crimes against humanity,” Sampson said during an anti-mandate rally on Aug. 17 in front of the State House.

The state lawmaker made her comments several days after Gov. Janet Mills’ administration announced that health care workers in Maine would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 1.

Democratic Sen. Joseph Baldacci, of Bangor, called the comparison of healthcare mandates to the Nazi Germany "an utter disrespect" to Holocaust survivors and the Jewish community.

The Maine CDC is investigating how nine employees at Maine Medical Center's Emergency Department came to test positive for COVID-19.
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