MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of the first people who lost their job over Shelby County’s handling of the COVID vaccine wants to clear her name, and she is suing Shelby County government to make it happen.
Dr. Judy Martin was the Chief of Nursing and Head of Immunizations at the Shelby County Health Department.
WREG’s April Thompson was the first reporter she spoke with regarding the debacle that led to her being forced out a year ago.
“One of the things that hurt the most was hearing myself being mis-characterized to the public,“ Dr. Martin said.
“It was absolutely not a voluntary retirement,” Dr. Martin said.
Dr. Martin said she became the scapegoat in the height of the COVID crisis when doses of vaccine were allowed to expire.
She said she first found out about them when she visited the Health Department pharmacist.
“And she said, oh, no, that’s expired. And so, it startled me. I asked, well, what are you saying?” Dr. Martin said.
Martin said she reported it to the Health Department Director, Alisa Haushalter, and they both tried to reach the state but couldn’t get a response for days.
“As I moved into that role of being responsible for the COVID vaccine effort, I had not been privy to the information about how to report vaccine loss,” Dr. Martin said.
She said more vaccine doses were lost when schools requested more than they actually used.
Dr. Martin said all of this was during the height of one of the worst snowstorms and many places, including the Shelby County Health Department, were shutdown.
But, she was still getting vaccines to places that needed them.
“I was stuck in ice that snow trying to get from one location to the other and then called to go to a different location,” Dr. Martin said.
Martin said she even took some vaccine home to make sure she could get it out to the locations.
By the time the state came to Shelby County to investigate, everyone was feeling the heat.
“I knew it was a problem because I did not want to be involved in a waste situation,” Dr. Martin said.
However, Dr. Martin feels she was the one who took the fall.
A statement from Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris shortly after Dr. Martin’s announced retirement said, “The county had terminated a site manager who allegedly provided what he described as ‘false information'”.
“The county needed a scapegoat in the situation. And they blamed Ms. Martin,” Jarrett Spence, Dr. Martin’s attorney said.
Martin has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation, back pay and a name clearing hearing.
“And they sought to lay not just the the falling apart on her, but more importantly, that somehow she was responsible for misrepresenting concealing, withholding or falsifying critical information to the next level of government.” Andrew Horvath
After 18 years at the Health Department, Dr. Martin said she never expected this.
“It was extremely hurtful to be blamed for the situation,” Dr. Martin said.
Shelby County officials would not comment on the suit.
WREG will update as more information becomes available.