In the past week, COVID-19 cases in the Granite State have surged, and hospitals and testing sites are feeling the pressure, with long lines and wait times.

There’s no disputing that we still are knee-deep in this pandemic and that it is a long way from being over. Variants and those who choose not to get vaccinated are hurdles we must overcome for any meaningful hope of emerging from this situation in 2022.

One bill going through the state Legislature, though, is raising concerns among several groups, including the New Hampshire Hospital Association.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a public hearing on a bill that would prohibit K-12 schools or day care centers from requiring children to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, said hundreds of parents asked him to sponsor the first bill. They’re already angry that some school districts require students to wear masks and “we don’t want a handful of bureaucrats deciding whether our children take this particular vaccine,” he said.

Current law requires schoolchildren to be vaccinated against seven diseases, not including COVID-19, and individual districts do not have the authority to add to the requirements.

While freedom of choice is one of the cornerstones this country was built on, there is such a thing as doing something for the good of society. Free choice is fine, but when lives are on the line, the good of the many truly does outweigh the good of the few.