Lawmakers: Parental OK needed for minors to get COVID shot

Two Tennessee Republican lawmakers say they've received assurances their state's Department of Health won’t vaccinate children for COVID-19 without parental consent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two Tennessee Republican lawmakers said Wednesday they received assurances that the state's health agency won't vaccinate minors for COVID-19 without parental consent, doubling back on a decades-old provision about children's vaccination rights that was a lightning rod in the firing of the state's top vaccine official. The announcement came during a meeting of the same legislative panel that last month grilled Department of Health officials — among them, then-vaccine chief Michelle Fiscus. The state has since terminated Fiscus in what she contends was a move to appease some GOP lawmakers who fumed over state outreach for COVID-19 vaccinations to minors. Some even threatened to dissolve the Health Department. Sen. Kerry Roberts and Rep. John Ragan, GOP co-chairs of the Joint Government Operations Committee, said in a statement read at Wednesday's meeting that they had met with Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey and a member of Republican Gov. Bill Lee's office. A spokesperson for the Department of Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the discussion. According to the lawmakers, both administration officials confirmed during that meeting that it's not the policy of the Department of Health, Department of Education or the 89 county health departments under the state's direct control to give the COVID-19 vaccine to children without parental consent, Roberts read in the statement. Six larger counties, such as Nashville and Memphis' Shelby County, are run independently.