Tennessee summarily fires its principal vaccine official, Dr. Michelle Fiscus
Amid the surge in the Delta strain of the coronavirus cases across Tennessee, the state government summarily fired its top vaccination official, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunizations programs, on Monday afternoon without providing any explanation of her termination.
The following day, Tennessee Republican state lawmakers ordered the Department of Health to discontinue all adolescent vaccine outreach initiatives, under the threat of dissolving the department, not just for COVID-19, but for all diseases.
Dr. Michelle Fiscus
This included the HPV vaccine, which has been proven safe and highly effective, when provided to adolescents before they begin having sexual relations, to protect them against a virus implicated in cervical cancer. There will also be no back-to-school messaging to more than 30,000 parents who were not able to get their children the measles vaccine last year.