The former top vaccination official in Tennessee was sent a dog muzzle in the mail several days before she was fired, which she believes was a move made to appease right-wing lawmakers.

       Dr Michelle Fiscus's husband, Brad told The Tennessean that she believed the muzzle was a message warning her to keep quiet about her coronavirus concerns.

       "Someone wanted to send a message to tell her to stop talking," he said. "They thought it would be a threat to her."

       Dr Fiscus became the object of ire for Republican lawmakers in the state due to her efforts to encourage teenagers to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

       The issue came to a head during a legislative session in June when some Republican lawmakers threatened to defund the state's department of health at time when coronavirus cases are on the rise due to the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.

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       During the session, the lawmakers pointed to a letter Dr Fiscus sent to medical providers telling them they could legally vaccinate children 14 and older without parental consent.

       Last week, Dr Fiscus was fired without explanation. She received the package with the dog muzzle shortly before she was terminated.

       "She said, `Whoever sent that must not know me very well. That’s for a beagle, but I’m a pit bull,’” her husband told the newspaper.

       Though the Tennessee Department of Health has not commented on the termination, the state's Department of Safety and Homeland Security said it was investigating the package.

       Dr Fiscus issued a statement following her firing, saying that she was afraid for the state and "angry for the amazing people of the Tennessee Department of Health who have been mistreated by an uneducated public and leaders who have only their own interests in mind”.

       In the wake of her termination, the state's health department has stopped outreach programs to encourage teenagers to get the Covid-19 vaccine.