Fights over COVID-19 vaccines are spilling over to other types of shots

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According to the Tennessean, the Tennessee Department of Health has stopped all outreach for vaccines for children and adolescents. The department is also stopping COVID-19 vaccination events at schools. It is not planning to offer flu shot clinics at schools and will no longer promote the HPV vaccine. After Republican legislators in the state were upset at the department's promotion of COVID-19 shots for teens, the department changed its policy.

This is a clear sign that the backlash and politicization surrounding the COVID-19 shots by right-wing commentators and conservative politicians is spreading to other types vaccines. This is not the first instance of politics having an impact on unrelated public health work during the pandemic. Over a dozen states have suggested limiting public power as a backlash to restrictions related to the pandemic. It's not the first time standard vaccines have been targeted.

Seth Kalichman is a University of Connecticut professor of psychology who has studied anti-vaxxers. It's precisely the type of misinformation that can lead to overgeneralization.

In Tennessee, the initial problem began when conservative lawmakers criticised Lisa Piercey, Health Commissioner, for recommending COVID-19 vaccinations to teenagers. Michelle Fiscus was also fired by the state health department after she circulated to doctors a memo explaining a state law that allows minors access to medical care without parental consent. Fiscus claimed she was fired because she was seen as a scapegoat and was trying to placate angry lawmakers.

Fiscus was fired at the same time as the department stopped any vaccine outreach to children or teens. Sarah Tanksley, spokesperson for the Health Department, told the Tennessean the state has high rates of childhood vaccinations. "We are just mindful of how certain tactics might hurt that progress." Sarah Tanksley, spokesperson for the Health Department, stated that the department plans to investigate vaccine hesitancy. She also said that the changes were made in response to "an intense nationwide conversation that is affecting how many people evaluate vaccinations in general."

Adriane Casalotti is the chief of public and government affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She worries about the jump from COVID-19 specific rollbacks to generalized rollsbacks. She says, "This is a clear example of COVID-19 vaccination policies impacting other vaccines." "We are really concerned by the news coming out of Tennessee."

Kalichman states that there has been a lot of cross-contamination from vaccine concerns to other vaccines, especially with the HPV vaccine. The cancer-preventive shot is misunderstood and parents are reluctant to give it to their children at high rates. He says that the HPV vaccine was made politicized and the misinformation and politicization completely undermined vaccine confidence in a new group of people who weren't vaccine hesitant.

Tennessee's situation is not unique. According to the National Association of County and City Health Officials, at least 15 states legislatures have already passed or are considering laws that restrict public health powers. A new Kansas law would prohibit the governor from closing down businesses in a state of emergency. Ohio's legislature could override state health department actions to control infectious diseases.

Casalotti states, "The fact traditional, daily public health activities have been impacted so bluntly squarely due to politics"

At least in Tennessee, the law hasn’t changed. Tennessee still requires that children get immunized before they start school. Jennifer Reich, a University of Colorado sociologist, said that the policy changes could make it more difficult for families to access the information they need. She says, "Right now, I see a chilling climate in which public health officers are trying to educate people about how to stay safe during a pandemic and how to protect their kids from life-threatening and disabling diseases."

The COVID-19 pandemic was not the first time legislators have attempted to limit public health authority and challenge vaccine mandates. Casalotti says that these proposals rarely get far. "The real difference we're seeing lately is the traction that so many are getting."

This shows that anti-vaxxers' misinformation and messaging are having a greater impact. Kalichman states that the most terrifying thing for people like me and people working in public health, is when anti-vaxxers, denialists and anti-science people get the attention of the highest levels government.

Kalichman said that he wouldn't be surprised if what happened in Tennessee happens in other states, especially in areas with high resistance to COVID-19 vaccine. It is easy to predict what could follow: If state health departments stop encouraging or helping people get childhood vaccines, these vaccination rates could drop.

You will have outbreaks. He says it's almost inevitable that there will be measles and rubella outbreaks if the vaccines don't work. It's how it works.