In today's news from Tennessee, Republican state lawmakers have discovered a janitor closet in the capitol building that contains what janitors are calling a "mop sink" but which the statehouse's archconservative weirdos believe to be a "Muslim prayer sink" and—wait, sorry, it turns out that one's a few years old at this point. Let's start over.
In today's news from Tennessee, CNN reports that Republican state lawmakers forced the removal of the state's top vaccine official after that official noted in a public memo that, according to longstanding and settled case law, teens in the state ages 14 to 17 can receive medical care without parental consent and, therefore, are able to consent to being vaccinated against COVID-19 without parental consent.
The memo noting [checks notes again] a Tennessee Supreme Court case that decided the issue over three decades ago caused an apparent ruckus after an unnamed state fossil decided that Tennessee health official Dr. Michelle Fiscus was guilty of lookin' things up. According to Fiscus, after the memo noting What Tennessee's Actual Laws Are made it to social media, legislators began contacting the state health department about this apparent attempt to "undermine parental authority," after which the department fired her. Also according to Fiscus, the state's health department has halted vaccination outreach efforts rather than further anger the freaks the state's Republican voters send into the legislature.
Yes, the pandemic is ongoing. Yes, the pandemic is ongoing in Tennessee. Yes, teens remain at risk of death from the virus. None of this is nearly as upsetting to state lawmakers as the thought that a teenager somewhere in the state might be able to get vaccinated even if their QAnon-humping, anti-vax, in-this-house-we-die-for-Dear-Leader parents are trying to withhold the vaccine in order to score Internet Points in conversations with fellow Buck Turgidsons.
Once again, we're seeing what now seems to be an inevitable shift in the pandemic. It is becoming a Republican-spread disease, one that is being tamped out in heavily Democratic regions even as it runs rampant in Republican-held states. That dynamic is not likely to last, however; with each new outbreak, the odds of the virus mutating into something that can evade existing vaccines increases. Diehard Trump conservatives may be the incubators of the next pandemic phase, but will not be its only victims.
If you know a Tennessee teenager, or are perhaps vaguely aware of the presence of Tennessee teenagers, you might take this opportunity to remind them that they can be vaccinated against a deadly disease with serious long-term health risks for free, and without parental permission, because the state Supreme Court already decided that nearly two decades before they were even born. That said, they may not have the option for long. The typical behavior of the Mop Sink Mob when they learn that somebody, somewhere has been practicing unauthorized hygiene or reading from the Forbidden Tomes Of What Our Laws Is is to hastily pass new laws banning whatever it is that's sent them into the latest paranoid spasm. Tune in next week when the state's Republicans insist that nobody can be vaccinated without their parents' permission unless they are at least 70 years old and are on a first-name basis with the wait staff at their closest diner.