She said it was her that provided the information in her own words. She sought out an explanation on the supreme court ruling to see if they can give vaccines to minors without parental consent. The middle part then says it was the governors office who already did it before her. Is there an email or something showing that? I'd definitely believe a governor or other politicians throwing someone under the bus for their own failures but does she show that somewhere? The final paragraph she admits to forwarding the information to all vaccine providers and then receiving backlash from that.
Sounds like either a) she decided this with the rest of the health department on her own and is deflecting blame or b) the whole state government decided it but is now blaming her and backtracking to cover their asses because it's a really stupid thing to try to do.
"On May 6, 2021, in advance of the approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 12-15 year olds and in response to multiple questions I had received regarding the rules around vaccinating minors, I reached out to Tennessee Department of Health’s general counsel to request a statement regarding Tennessee’s Mature Minor Doctrine that resulted from a Tennessee Supreme Court Ruling in Cardwell v Bechtol in 1987.
In response, I received a document attached to an email stating, “Sure—Attached is the new summary of the doctrine that has just recently been posted to the website and is blessed by the Governor’s office on the subject. This is forward facing so feel free to distribute to anyone.”
On May 10, 2021, I copied and pasted the language provided to me into a memo that was distributed only to providers who were administering COVID-19 vaccines. A recipient of that memo was upset that, according to Tennessee Supreme Court case law, minors ages 14-17 years are able to receive medical care in Tennessee without parental consent and posted the memo to social media. Within days, legislators were contacting TDH asking questions about the memo with some interpreting it as an attempt to undermine parental authority."
