Many Americans are in shock as news spreads that the Commissioner of the Tennessee Dept. of Health, a politically-ambitious pediatrician, bowed this week to state Republican lawmakers furious that juveniles were being told they have a legal right to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In response to GOP outrage, Commissioner Lisa Piercey, fired the Department’s vaccination chief and then banned all outreach on vaccines – all vaccines, not just COVID-19, to juveniles.
The Health Dept. will also ignore and not participate in any way in educating on vaccines for August’s annual National Immunization Awareness Month, Nashville’s NewsChannel 5 reports.
Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee (photo), who has one of the worst records in the country for handling the coronavirus pandemic, refuses to comment on the firing but last week said the state will only perform outreach to parents, not juveniles.
The CDC says doctors suggest school-aged children be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, diphtheria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, HPV, meningococcal, polio, pneumococcal meningitis, pneumococcal pneumonia, rotavirus, tetanus, whooping cough, and COVID-19, as age-appropriate.
But it is now official policy of the State of Tennessee to not take any action to promote or communicate the need for any vaccines for children.
Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson blasted the Tennessee GOP’s “utterly unforgivable, amoral, murderous intent of not getting kids vaccinated,” and encouraged tech giant Oracle to put its relocation to the state on hold.
Former Vermont governor, Dr. Howard Dean offered a similar “hope.”
A columnist for The Guardian blasted the decision by Dr. Piercey, which is totally supported by the leader of the Tennessee House Republican caucus, calling it “insanity.”
MSNBC host Joy Reid:
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta:
More responses: