Parental Consent Required for Vaccination of Minors in TN
The Mature Minor Clarification Act has been passed by both houses of the General Assembly in TN and is now headed to the desk of Governor Bill Lee.
Read the final language of the bill, which includes the legal findings that are its foundation.
The Mature Minor Clarification Act clarifies that no minor under age 18 may be given a vaccination without the consent of their parent or legal guardian. This applies to all minors, including those in the custody of the TN Department of Children’s Services (DCS).
Parental consent for vaccination has always been law in TN, however, in recent years, misinterpretation of court findings led the TN Department of Health (DOH) to declare that minors aged 14 and older could provide consent if a practitioner deemed them “mature” enough to make the decision. Moving forward, this practice will end.
The science has long shown that adolescent brain development continues into one’s early twenties, and courts have taken that into consideration when adolescents commit crimes. See: Adolescent Brain Development and Youth Justice.
There are four legal situations in which a minor may consent to vaccination without parental/guardian approval.
Minors may provide their own consent if the minor is:
- Emancipated pursuant to title 29, chapter 31;
- In need of emergency treatment pursuant to §
63–6–222; (Note that currently there is no emergency situation that would qualify for providing a vaccination without parental/guardian consent.) - Is or was previously a member of the armed forces
of the United States, or a member of a reserve or national
guard unit; or - The parent of a minor child and has full custody
of that minor child.
The new law affirms that the only way a child in custody of the DCS may be given a vaccine is “upon written request to, and court order from, the appropriate court”, which means that the parents/guardian have been provided with due legal process that led to the removal of their medical decision-making for their minor child.
After the bill is presented to the governor, he will have ten days (excluding Sundays) to sign, veto, or do nothing. If he takes no action within that period, the bill becomes a law without his signature. It is expected that the governor will either sign or allow the bill to become law.
We here at CHD TN ask citizens to pay attention to marketing regarding vaccination in the state and information provided by either DOH or DCS. Please contact us if you see anything that appears to market vaccines to minors, or that claims minors of certain ages do not require parental consent. There will be much clean-up work to do to eradicate all the sources of misinformation on this topic. Please use our CONTACT FORM to provide information. Thank you!