Michelle Fiscus, president of Tennessee sacked vaccine, criticizes new rule

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Michelle Fiscus, Tennessee’s chief vaccine officer until she was fired Monday, condemned a new move by the state’s health department to severely limit vaccine spread to teens.

The change, first reported by the state of Tennessee, will stop all Department of Health vaccine events in schools and stop all communications to teens about vaccines, including postcards informing them of second COVID-19 shots. The change, and the termination of Fiscus, occurred amid pressure from state Republican lawmakers, who have described the Department of Health’s vaccine outreach to teens as abuses that threaten parental authority.

Fiscus told BuzzFeed News that the Tennessee Department of Health “was rolling over and pacifying these legislators rather than defending public health and the people of Tennessee.” She suggested that Governor Bill Lee and Lisa Percy, the Tennessee health commissioner, reportedly allow the change, and they gave in because of their political ambitions. “Politics have conspired to create toxic leadership.”

The state Department of Health change comes amid growing concern about a state law called the “Doctrine of Young Adults,” which allows teens 14 and older to make medical decisions without parental consent. That could include getting the COVID-19 vaccines, which are approved for children 12 and over, and state Republican lawmakers have accused the Health Department of “targeting” young people for vaccination and then threatened to dismantle the agency to halt its outreach efforts.

But the new move by the state health department affects awareness of all vaccines, not just those that protect children from COVID-19, severely threatening public health in the state. The agency had previously recommended vaccination against influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, HPV and more.

The change comes as cases in the state rise amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. Cases in Tennessee are up more than 400% in the past two weeks and deaths are up 9%. Only 38% of the state has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, making Tennessee one of the least vaccinated states in the United States.

Fiscus was launched by the Tennessee Department of Health on Monday, due to information circulated to medical providers about providing COVID-19 vaccines to teens. She later issued a public statement saying that she was a scapegoat due to political pressure. “I am afraid for my condition,” she said in her statement.

“We have a legislature full of people who are not scientists and are not healthcare providers who have their own crazy ideas about vaccines,” Fiscus said. “When they saw that we were trying to do our job of educating people, they saw that it undermined parental authority. They started ranting about dissolving the Department of Health, in In the midst of a pandemic, which is ironic, the department’s leadership has completely collapsed.”

The Tennessee Department of Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, the CDC recommended that all schools resume in-person learning in the fall and play a leading role in promoting vaccination among eligible students, calling it “one of the most critical strategies to help schools safely resume operations.”

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