HB 1852 / SB 1767

The Tennessee mRNA Pharmaceutical Sovereignty and Safety Act would bar any individual—including medical and veterinary professionals—from administering vaccines or injectables containing mRNA-based materials. It amends eight separate titles of Tennessee law to establish that no doctor, nurse, pharmacist, veterinarian, or other provider may deliver mRNA vaccines or components. The bill opens with over two dozen findings asserting widespread ineffectiveness, safety concerns, and long-term harms allegedly tied to mRNA interventions, from cardiac and neurological injuries to reproductive and autoimmune disorders. It also calls out the lack of long-term placebo-controlled studies and highlights alternative treatments for COVID-19 such as ivermectin and monoclonal antibodies.

Substantively, the Act is an outright prohibition rather than a licensure requirement or consumer-disclosure regime: any administration of mRNA material would be unlawful, regardless of informed consent. It applies to human and animal health, reflecting a sweeping approach to ban the technology’s medical and agricultural uses. By framing the measure under “pharmaceutical sovereignty,” the bill also signals an intent to assert state police-power authority against FDA approvals and federal standards.

In practice, the ban would force Tennessee practitioners to refuse mRNA vaccinations—even if federally authorized for new pathogens—and could subject non-compliant providers to professional discipline or civil penalties. Patients seeking mRNA vaccines elsewhere would have to cross state lines, and manufacturers might halt distribution in Tennessee altogether. The law would mark one of the nation’s strictest state-level prohibitions on mRNA technology, moving sharply beyond mere medical-freedom protections into categorical prohibition.