FACT BRIEF

Is there an effort to shut down Tennessee’s health department for encouraging teens to get vaccinated?

Thursday, July 1, 2021

By Jacob Alabab-Moser

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YES

On June 16, 2021, a Tennessee legislature committee discussed efforts to vaccinate minors. Rep. Scott Cepicky, a Republican, moved to “dissolve and reconstitute” the state health department over concerns that it was “coercing” children into getting vaccinated.

Cepicky and other lawmakers took issue with a department memo sent to vaccine providers about the “mature minor doctrine”—a 1987 state ruling that permits minors 14 and up to receive health care without parental consent. Cepicky also objected to department ads displaying children smiling with a bandage on their arms, suggesting that they amounted to “peer pressure” and “guilt-tripping” given the “impressionable” nature of “young people...wanting to fit in.”

The department clarified that its intent was to be informative, not promotional.

The Republican-led committee plans to reconvene and continue its discussion in July.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Daily Memphian Lawmakers look to dissolve state health department over teen vaccines

Local 24 Memphis Republican lawmakers threaten to dissolve the Tennessee Department of Health for ‘guilt-tripping’ kids to get vaccinated

WZTV (Nashville) Rural Tennessee counties at risk if lawmakers pull the plug on state health department

State of Tennessee Department of Health: Mature minor doctrine

State of Tennessee Tweet by Department of Health: ‘Give it a shot‘

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