Tennessee has decided to stop the whole campaign of vaccines for adolescents. The Department of Health has decided to ban the second dose and has decided to stop vaccinations for all diseases, not just Covid.
Teen Vaccine: The Tennessee Decision
The Tennessee Department of Health “it will stop all vaccination campaigns for teenagers“, Not only for Covid, but for all diseases, under the pressure of republican state legislators. The staff was instructed to remove the agency logo from the documents. The Department of Health it will also stop all events organized in schools to talk about the anti-Covid vaccine. The decisions to stop vaccines and school events come directly “by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lisa Piercey“, As stated in the internal report. The department will take steps to ensure that no more alerts are sent to persuade adolescents to receive the second dose of the vaccine. Teenagers will be excluded, so that postcards are not “potentially interpreted as solicitation of minors“, As stated in the report. The decision was made because recent studies have highlighted the possibility of an increase in cases of myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination, mainly affecting male adolescents and young adults over 16 years of age.
Vaccine for adolescents: change of strategy
Tennessee has changed the vaccination strategy. The changes were explained in a Covid-19 report distributed to health department staff and then reiterated in a mass email, explaining how the government is deciding to stop vaccination on minors. These are changes that many have criticized and that have sparked controversy, which will come into effect just as the Covid pandemic continues to spread. After months of declining infections, the number of daily cases has doubled in recent weeks, going from 177 to 418. The positivity rate has gone from 2.2% to 5.4%. The decision, however, was based on the many cases of myocarditis and pericarditis reported in younger people after vaccination, so it is a way to protect them from these adverse reactions.
Vaccine for adolescents: comments
The state is detecting an increase in cases due to the Delta variant. The doctor Tim Jones wrote to hospital staff asking them not to do any “preliminary planning”For school flu vaccine events. Any information on back-to-school vaccinations must come from the Tennessee Department of Education, “not from the Tennessee Department of HealthAdded Jones. “Any type of information sheet or other material that we make available for dissemination should have the TDH logo removed”Wrote the doctor. Chelsea Clinton, a global health advocate and daughter of former President Bill Clinton, tweeted that the agency’s actions “they are disturbing“.