By Michael Bielawski

The 2026 Covid Public Hearing took place on March 25th at the Statehouse featuring several speakers sharing their stories about how the shutdowns, face masking, and vaccine mandates stressed their personal relationships, their jobs, and their lives in general.

“Suddenly we were asked to submit to a litany of experimental procedures in order to keep our jobs, attend school, or get medical care,” said Amy Hornblas, the host of the event. Hornblas is a radio host, health educator, and the director of Vermont Stands Up, the organization responsible for putting the event together.

She continued, “The mainstream press and government officials downplayed the negative consequences that these health measures would have no individuals or society at large. Simple concepts like the need to breathe fresh air were too political to even talk about.”

There were ten speakers in addition to Hornblas. One of them was Vicki Strong, a former 12-year state representative from the Northeast Kingdom.

A church not allowed to sing

Strong said, “In that course of time, I felt somewhat isolated and persecuted because of my beliefs. Also my husband was a pastor during that time and the churches were supposed to close. And then in silly ways we were allowed to open again, and we weren’t allowed to sing.”

She described that her church finally had had enough of the controversial protocols.

“Anyone remember that?” she said. “Just go to church and listen to the music but don’t open your mouth and sing, and sit many feet apart and wear masks. Well finally our church decided we had enough and just worshiped openly and without regrets.”

More and more people calling doctor’s office

Tom and Linda Livingston from West Topsham talked about how when Tom got the COVID vaccine he faced lots of aches, pains, and headaches lasting for months. He said he lost his ability to do almost any normal everyday activity.

“Three days later [after the second shot] I had excruciating exhaustion,” he said. “I was absolutely next to useless. This whole thing was followed by another couple of days of excruciating headaches and [other symptoms]. After about three weeks I decided it was time, I had to do something.”

Mr. Livingston would call the doctor repeatedly and each time the doctor would say there’s nothing that can be done. The third time he called he said that the doctor admitted that he wasn’t the only one having apparent vaccine reactions.

“They [the doctor’s office] kind of let the cat out of the bag,” he said. “They said more and more people were calling. Still [they said] there really isn’t anything we can do for you and it will go away. This was a frightful time for me.”

He said it wasn’t until he and his wife finally resolved to do their own research about alternative remedies that eventually his condition began to improve. He added that he had lost trust in the medical establishment due to this experience.

Mother and son coerced into taking shots

Legislative candidate and parent Elizabeth Brown, from Waterbury, spoke as well. Her son was diagnosed as dyslexic and needed special education services at school. Because they chose not to vaccinate him, the school was forcing him to go home for two weeks every time he was in contact with someone who had COVID-19, even if they had no symptoms.

“All you have to do is look at Vermont’s education performance overlaid by Vermont’s approach to the pandemic versus other states and our schools, our teachers became enforcers of health and mitigations rather than teaching,” she said.

She talked about the coercion they faced which did lead to her and her son getting the vaccine either to stay employed or at school respectively.

“We weighed the pros and cons and as the data continued to come in that the vaccines did not work to prevent transmission of the virus or worse could cause harm, we were certain this was not the path for us. Yet our workplace and our schools forced this on us,” she said.

Now she worries for her son’s health.

“I have to live with the fact that that vaccine may cause harm to my son. [I have seen] that young men, they are susceptible to cardiac issues from the vaccine.”

Michael Bielawski is an independent journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering the Vermont Statehouse.