It’s a dereliction of duty that will likely lead to preventable deaths: as COVID-19 infections soar in Tennessee, Republican lawmakers have undermined the state’s fledgling COVID-19 vaccine campaign. Worse, they’re going after ALL vaccines.

Last month, GOP members of the Tennessee House of Representatives berated public health officials for marketing COVID-19 vaccinations to adolescents. Rep. Scott Cepicky suggested that the The Tennessee Department of Health could be disbanded if it continued to encourage teens to get inoculated against the disease that has killed over 600,000 Americans.

I am old enough to remember when childhood diseases – now controlled by vaccines – terrorized families, wreaking pain and heartbreak. This is lunacy. https://t.co/t84c8DKIUG

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 13, 2021

The Department of Health acquiesced. On Tuesday, The Tennessean reported that the state agency will halt all pro-vaccine outreach to minors, including emailed appointment reminders. In addition, COVID-19 vaccine events will no longer be held on school property. That’s not just a blow to students seeking inoculation; in many rural areas, schools are the only viable venue for vaccine distribution.

Furthermore, the Department of Health will not conduct “pre-planning” for flu shots events at schools.

Halting vaccine outreach – including not reminding teens to return for their second #covid19 shot – is horrifying and I worry will have tragic consequences for kids, families and public health in Tennessee and beyond. There is no reasonable or moral defense of the below: https://t.co/ww1Do3Feh4

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) July 13, 2021

Earlier this week, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the health department’s former medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs, said she was fired because lawmakers said she went “too far” to try and get young people vaccinated. In a memo to health care professionals, Fiscus cited a 1987 State Supreme Court ruling that suggests that adolescents aged 14-18 do not need their parents consent for medical treatment.

Lawmakers called her “reprehensible,” according to The Tennessean.

"We have been disparaged, demeaned, accused, and sometimes vilified by a public who chooses not to believe in science, and elected and appointed officials who have put their own self-interest above the people they were chosen to represent and protect."
https://t.co/owNioTbDX2

— Tennessean (@Tennessean) July 12, 2021

“Nobody else in this state needs to die from Covid-19 because we have effective vaccines,” Fiscus responded. “And the fact that we have elected and appointed officials that are putting barriers up to protecting those Tennesseans is, I think, it’s unforgivable.”

The New York Times provides context:

The issue of whether and when teenagers should be able to consent to health care decisions has been reignited in the debate over the Covid-19 vaccines. Some parents’ rights proponents say parents should have the ultimate authority over their child’s medical care, particularly if they have concerns about the safety of the vaccines. But many legislators and public health officials have supported allowing children as young as 12 to get vaccinated without parental consent.

“Why would we want to discourage anyone, no matter their age, from being vaccinated during a pandemic?” said Dominic A. Sisti, an author of recommendations for adolescent consent and vaccines that were published this week in JAMA Pediatrics. “Teenagers have the capacity to weigh costs and benefits and they often know a lot more about the vaccines than their vaccine-hesitant parents.”

COVID-19 cases have more than doubled in the last two weeks in Tennessee as the highly contagious Delta variant has emerged there. Tennessee currently ranks 44th among U.S. states in vaccination rate.