(Natural News) The Tennessee Department of Health is dropping a vaccine outreach campaign aimed at children and teenagers following outrage among some lawmakers and residents.
Since the middle of June, Republican lawmakers in the state have been accusing the agency of targeting minors and pressuring children to get COVID vaccines.
In a joint Government Operations Committee meeting, lawmakers asked Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey to stop using inappropriate methods to encourage young adults and teenagers to get vaccinated against the virus regardless of parental consent.
Representative Scott Cepickey (R-Culleoka) said: “We know how impressionable our young people are. For a department of ours to make it seem like you need a vaccine … to fit in is peer pressure applied by the state of Tennessee. Personally, I think it’s reprehensible that you would do that, that you would do that to our youth.”
He also drew attention to the marketing tactics that the health department had been using to try to get children’s attention. For example, they have been issuing colorful flyers featuring children getting the shot with phrases like “Give COVID-19 vaccines a shot.”
Minors don’t need parental consent to get COVID-19 shots in Tennessee
During the committee meeting, Piercey told lawmakers that minors can get vaccines without parental consent as part of the state’s Mature Minor Doctrine. This allows teens who are aged 14 to 18 to receive treatment from a physician without receiving parental consent unless the doctor feels the minor is not equipped to make their own healthcare decisions. The state is just one of five that has such a rule in place, while 41 states require minors to get consent from a parent or guardian to receive any type of immunization.
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