Tennessee Republicans' war against childhood vaccinations reached a new level on Tuesday after The Tennessean reported that the state's health department "will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers."
The halt to child vaccine programs comes just one day after Tennessee's top vaccine official was fired for what she claimed were her efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccinations for teenagers.
That firing came weeks after Republican Tennessee State Rep. Scott Cepicky held a public hearing in which he attacked the department for making fliers encouraging "impressionable" teens to get vaccinated.
The latest move, as reported by Tennessean, will shut down all vaccination drives in public schools and will stop sending "postcards or other notices reminding teenagers to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccines."
The revelations about Tennessee going full anti-vax drew horrified reactions -- check some out below.
Killing the kids to own the libs. \n#Tennesseehttps://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Paulette Aniskoff (@Paulette Aniskoff) 1626205103
Utter insanity. For perspective: This story breaks on Nathan Bedford Forrest day, which our GOP legislature refuses to repeal. It also occurs during the same session in which the legislature passed resolutions honoring Candace Owens and Tomi Lahren.https://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Radley Balko (@Radley Balko) 1626204976
This is an act of evil.https://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Gabriel Malor (@Gabriel Malor) 1626204887
Yes this seems bad, and like it could lead to a lot of people getting sick or dying, but at least the Republicans are focused on what\u2019s important, inoculating Americans against the VIRUS of CRITICAL RACE THEORYhttps://twitter.com/brettkelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Adam Serwer \ud83c\udf5d (@Adam Serwer \ud83c\udf5d) 1626205456
Enjoy diphtheria, morons!https://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Roy Edroso (@Roy Edroso) 1626205315
An entire party has become anti-science now. They will let American's die.https://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Fred Wellman (@Fred Wellman) 1626204747
Reading, writing, and arithmetic, *AND* measles, mumps, and rubellahttps://twitter.com/brettkelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Charles PM (@Charles PM) 1626205709
The next decade in America is gonna be so gut wrenchingly damn stupid to live throughhttps://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— nate bowling (collecting vaccines like Thanos) (@nate bowling (collecting vaccines like Thanos)) 1626205759
The stupidest countryhttps://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Zito (@Zito) 1626205132
This certainly sounds very bad and very dumb.https://twitter.com/brettkelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— James Pethokoukis (@James Pethokoukis) 1626205163
Absolute lunacy.https://twitter.com/BrettKelman/status/1415023788777934850\u00a0\u2026— Jon Ralston (@Jon Ralston) 1626205157
