The Tennessee Department of Health said Wednesday it has “in no way halted the immunizations for children program” on the heels of the state firing its top vaccine official and discontinuing adolescent vaccine outreach for other vaccines.

“You talk about demoralizing,” Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Raumesh Akbari said Wednesday. “They are basically being accused almost of committing something akin to a crime. They were being threatened with being completely removed, during a pandemic.”