Tennessee Finally Resumes Vaccine Outreach to Teens After GOP Freakout

Tennessee will resume its vaccine outreach to minors, including for the COVID-19 vaccine, after Republican lawmakers forced the state to shut it down. The state’s health commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said it would begin hosting vaccine drives again, including allowing minors to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine without parental consent. “We put a pause on many things, and then we have resumed all of those,” Piercey said at a press briefing, according to The Tennessean. The state had halted most of its vaccine promotion after GOP state lawmakers revolted against the program last month, with some threatening to shut it down. The uproar led to the firing of one of the state’s top health officials. The state health department itself denied to The Daily Beast anything had been halted, saying minors could still obtain a vaccine without their parents’ approval.