Gov. Lee backs efforts to end vaccine outreach for teens
While COVID-19 infections are again on the rise in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday said his administration will do no more than continued vaccine outreach.
The governor on Thursday repeatedly stressed vaccination is the “most effective tool” to combat the pandemic but maintained it remains a “personal choice.”
“I want to say today, and I want to continue to say, that the No. 1 tool that we have to continue to manage COVID-19, including the delta variant, is the vaccine,” he told reporters during a morning news conference.
The governor also encouraged people to talk to “trusted voices” in their communities, such as their doctors and clergy.
But Lee stopped short of taking actions beyond urging people to get immunized.
He dismissed the idea of a vaccine mandate, a return to restrictions or offering incentives for parents to inoculate their children. Additionally, despite claiming support for more aggressive messaging, Lee backed the state Department of Health's cutback on vaccine outreach for teens.
“Parents are the best decider, actually the only appropriate decider, of the health decisions for children,” he said. “We need to do nothing in government to go around that parental decision.”
“We nonetheless want to make sure that our children are vaccinated,” he added.
Controversies surrounding the state's vaccination efforts arose when the Tennessee Department of Health quietly scaled back its vaccine-related programs due to pressure from conservative lawmakers. During a June legislative hearing, several Republicans slammed the department for urging teens to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and providing an update on a legal doctrine where those 14 and older can get vaccines without parental consent.
The department then quickly deleted pro-vaccination posts, cancelled all COVID-19 vaccination events for teenagers and halted all vaccine outreach — not only for COVID-19 — to teenagers. It also fired its vaccine chief, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, and pushed back an online summit for medical professionals on vaccination advocacy.
The backstepping came as COVID-19 infections again take hold in Tennessee.
In mid-july, the state's infection rate more than tripled over a three-week period, representing one of the largest increases across the nation. Almost all deaths related to COVID-19 occurred among the unvaccinated. Meanwhile, Tennessee's vaccination program was left with “critical gaps” as two highranking health department employees left for other jobs, according to an internal report obtained by The Tennessean.
Lee said Thursday he supports decisions made by the state's top health officials. He insisted he is confident the turnover will not affect the department's ability to handle spikes in infections, and stressed the vaccines are still available even without the outreach.
“I'm very confident that we (will) fill the positions that are needing to be filled and continue the vaccination and distribution plans that we have in place,” he said.
He also expressed support for halting all vaccine outreach programs to and about teens, arguing only parents should make decisions for their children's health. The governor denied involvement in decision making within the health department on Thursday, although a representative from his office met with lawmakers and health department officials privately days before the outreach programs were suspended.
The governor, who has rejected mandates on vaccines or masks, said he believes vaccination should be a “personal choice.” Lee received his COVID-19 vaccine in private, unlike leaders in other states who advertised their shots. He also has no plans to offer incentives to encourage vaccination like other states.
“The government's role is to provide information, to provide education, to provide access, to provide the vaccine,” he said. “It's not to mandate, to require, it's not to blame, it's not to shame.”
Reach Yue Stella Yu at yyu@tennessean.com and on Twitter @bystellayu_tnsn.