Tennessee The former senior vaccination official said she was unable to remain silent after her dismissal this week as Republican state lawmakers reviewed its department’s outreach work to vaccinate teenagers. Coronavirus disease.
Dr. Michelle Fiscus is the medical director of the Tennessee Department of Health’s Vaccine Preventable Diseases and Immunization Program. She said that the state’s elected leaders fired her because of her efforts to get more Tennessees vaccinated and put politics on children’s health. Above.
She said that the agency submitted her resignation letter and dismissal letter to her on Monday, but did not specify the reason for her dismissal.
After choosing to terminate the letter, Fiscus wrote a fierce response of 1,200 words. She said that she was ashamed of the leaders of Tennessee, frightened for her state, and “for those of the Tennessee Department of Health who were uneducated. People who abuse terrific people are angry with the public and leaders who only consider their own interests.”
She also revealed that the Tennessee Department of Health has stopped outreach work around any type of childhood vaccines, not just COVID-19 vaccines. Tennessee confirmed this through departmental documents. She warned that when all this happened, only 38% of Tennessees were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, lagging behind most of the country.
“I don’t think they realize how much I support public health and how I cannot tolerate injustice,” Fiscus told the Associated Press in one of several interviews with many news media.
So far, the administration of Republican Gov. Bill Lee has remained silent on the dismissal. His office and the Ministry of Health declined to comment on the grounds of personnel issues. After the event on Tuesday, Li did not answer questions from reporters.
Democrats slammed the firing, and Senator Raumesh Akbari said that Fiscus was “sacrificed for anti-vaccine ideology”. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cameron Sexton, was one of the few Republicans involved. He said through a spokesperson that health officials made the decision internally.
Sexton’s spokesperson Doug Kufner said: “Although members have expressed concerns about the department’s recent vaccine marketing strategy, the Sexton Speaker will not speculate on the factors that made this decision. “However, Speaker Sexton does believe that those who disagree agree with yesterday’s results.”
Republican Senator Richard Briggs (Richard Briggs), a doctor, said he was not sure why Fiscus was fired, but said “If she was fired because she tried to vaccinate our children Vaccine, that’s wrong.” He said he didn’t want to make a second guess about the department, but “because it at least on the surface does not seem to know the details, it may need some clarification.”
At a committee meeting in June, an angry Republican lawmaker mentioned Fiscus’s name in a letter. She wrote to the health care provider that administers the vaccine, explaining that the state allows them to do so without parental consent. Under circumstances, the legal mechanism for vaccinating 14-year-old minors is called the “mature minor theory”. This letter is a response to the provider’s question and does not contain new information.
Fiscus said the lawyer for the health department provided the letter. She said the lawyer once said that the letter was “blessed by the governor’s office.” She said that the doctrine is based on the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling in 1987, and her job is to explain what is permissible.
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Republican lawmakers also warned the agency to communicate about vaccines, including online posts. One picture contains a picture of a smiling child wearing a band-aid on his arm, and it says: “People over 12 years old in Tennessee are eligible for the vaccine. Try the COVID-19 vaccine.”
At the hearing, Republican Rep. Scott Cepicky took a printout of a Facebook ad, stating that teenagers are eligible, calling the agency’s publicity “reprehensible,” and comparing them to peers. pressure.
When asked about the hearings, the governor generally stated last month that the state will “continue to encourage people to seek vaccinations-adults make their own choices of vaccines for their children and adults.”
Two weeks after the hearing, the health department instructed county-level employees to stop vaccination campaigns against teenagers and stop online promotion of them. Tennessee previously quoted an email report it obtained.
Fiscus said the vaccine communication problem arose last fall when the vaccine had not yet been approved by the federal government, and health officials asked for permission to start publicizing how the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and well-researched. She said they were rejected and the governor’s office controlled the communication, adding that public information in the state began in May of this year.
Fiscus said: “When the vaccine finally came out, the message from the governor’s communications team was,’Talk to your doctor to see if the COVID-19 vaccine is right for you.” “We are trying to explain that this is not a foot fan. This is what we have to talk to We should vigorously encourage people to be vaccinated as a life-saving tool to fight against this pandemic.”
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