Voters in Tennessee s 15th House District have become rather acquainted with Black male figures holding the seat, but this year a new man is sitting in it.
After unseating incumbent Rick Staples, who served since 2016, Sam McKenzie says he is honored to continue the work of his predecessor.
On Wednesday, he was elected vice chairman of The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators along with a newly elected chairman state Rep. Antonio Parkinson, secretary state Sen. Katrina Robinson and treasurer state Rep. Jesse Chism. The Tennessee Black Caucus is a vital arm to the state government, and I am happy to have been elected, McKenzie said.
Nashville General Hospital at Meharry receives first round of COVID-19 vaccines
Select frontline workers at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry receive their first round of vaccines Monday.
and last updated 2020-12-21 20:01:19-05
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) â Monday was a historic day for Nashville General Hospital at Meharry. After initially being left off the list, Nashville General at Meharry received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccine was given to six front-line workers Monday. During this holiday season I got to share hope with my children, said emergency doctor Ben Heavrin, I told them when daddy goes to work even though its dangerous there s hope and I am very hopeful day after a year filled with hardships.
Tennessee will receive around 40,000 âunexpectedâ additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine later this week, Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said Monday.
âProbably the best news of the weekend was that we are getting an unexpected shipment of an additional 40,000 doses of Pfizer,â Piercey said during a conference call with reporters. âThat order had to be in today, and so we placed that. That should arrive either tomorrow or Wednesday.â
The state received 56,550 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week, with those shipped directly to hospitals across the state. A total of 16,500 doses have been administered thus far. Tennessee also began receiving the first of 115,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Monday, with shipments continuing over the next week. In Northeast Tennessee, Carter County health officials received their first shipment of the vaccine on Monday and inoculated several
Senior VP: We are as front-line as you can be
Health care workers at Meharry Medical College were initially left off the list to receive a state allotment of Pfizer vaccines, school officials say, despite their front-line status providing medical services to the city’s underserved populations.
Meharry Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement Patrick Johnson said the Tennessee Department of Health failed to offer Meharry clinics doses of the vaccine at first. But officials with the historically black medical school have reached out to their state contacts and doses will soon be on the way.
“Everyone is truly apologetic and realizes that this was an oversight. It wasn’t malicious in any way, but it begs the deeper question. For an institution like Meharry that has been a part of the efforts to fight the pandemic from day one […] to be overlooked is inexplicable,” Johnson said. “We are as front-line as you can be in every facet of this [.] When the decision
Health department cheers vaccine rollout
Source: TN Dept. of HealthThe Tennessee Department of Health has reported a total of 529,578 cases of COVID-19 across the state, up 9,891 cases since Thursday on 58,714 new test results a 16 percent positivity rate.
Of the total number of cases, 6,136 people have died up 65 from the numbers 24 hours earlier.
The number of active cases in Tennessee has increased 109 percent in the past two weeks, with officials reporting that 85,406 individuals are currently infected with COVID an all-time high.
The number of patients hospitalized with the disease in the state has climbed 9 percent in the past two weeks. More than 2,779 people at 114 hospitals are now being treated for confirmed cases of COVID.