NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Emails show that the firing of Tennessee's former vaccination director caught the state's top health leaders off guard and sent them scrambling for answers.
Meanwhile the health commissioner fumed over the praise fellow coworkers heaped on the ousted employee.
Earlier this year, Tennessee's Department of Health sparked national attention when Dr. Michelle Fiscus was fired under pressure from Republican legislators who objected to efforts to get children vaccinated.
The Associated Press requested a week's worth of emails among health officials regarding Fiscus' firing.
The records paint a more complete picture of an agency in turmoil over the firing of an official who had been highly regarded by those fighting to contain the pandemic.