Amid measles outbreak, Texas is poised to make vaccine exemptions for
kids easier
[May 28, 2025]
By JIM VERTUNO
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas this year has been the center of the nation's
largest measles outbreak in more than two decades, as a mostly
eradicated disease has sickened more than 700 in the state, sent dozens
to hospitals and led to the death of two children who were unvaccinated.
But even as the outbreak slows, a bill approved by state lawmakers and
sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott would make it significantly easier
for parents to enroll their children in school without standard
vaccinations for diseases such as measles, whooping cough, polio and
hepatitis A and B.
Supporters say the bill streamlines an already legal exemption process
that allows families to avoid vaccines for reasons of conscience,
religious beliefs or medical reasons. It would let them download the
required forms from a website instead of contacting state health
officials and waiting for one to come in the mail.
The bill does not change which vaccines are required. However, critics
say easing the exemption process opens a door to further outbreaks with
potentially deadly results.
“If this bill becomes law, Texas is likely to see more illness, more
death and higher health care costs for families and business,” Rekha
Lakshmanan, chief strategy officer for Texas-based nonprofit
Immunization Project, told state senators before the bill won final
approval.
“The outbreak (in Texas) is not a coincidence. It is the canary in the
coal mine screaming at the top of its lungs,” she said.
The exemption bill — as well as other bills passed by the Texas House on
lawsuits against vaccine makers and removing immunization restrictions
on organ transplants — are a snapshot of efforts across dozens of
conservative states to question vaccines or roll back requirements.
At the national level, this wave has been buoyed by still-lingering
pushback from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration's
embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was one of the nation’s leading
anti-vaccine advocates before being appointed secretary of the U.S.
Health and Human Services Department.
The most recent federal data shows U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates
have dipped since the pandemic — 92.7% in the 2023-24 school year
compared to 95% before COVID-19 — and the proportion of children with
exemptions rose to an all-time high. And last week, the “Make America
Healthy Again” federal report on the nation’s health and wellness
questioned the necessity of vaccine mandates for schoolkids.
The national Association of Immunization Managers, an organization of
state and local immunization officials, has been tracking nearly 600
vaccine-related bills across the country in 2025, and the majority would
not be considered pro-vaccine, said Brent Ewig, the group’s the group’s
chief policy officer.
“We saw a spike in vaccine-related bills during the pandemic. The last
few years it had been tapering off. With recent actions at the federal
level, there has been a spike again,” Ewig said.
The Texas measles outbreak and vaccine requirements
Measles has been considered eliminated from the United States since
2000. The Texas outbreak started in late January in West Texas'
Mennonite communities that have been resistant to vaccines and
distrustful of government intervention, and the highly contagious virus
quickly jumped to other places with low vaccination rates.
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A sign is seen outside of Seminole Hospital District offering
measles testing, Feb. 21, 2025, in Seminole, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio
Cortez, File)
 Like many states, Texas requires
children to obtain vaccines to protect against 11 diseases to attend
public and private schools and child care centers. The state's
vaccination rates for the 2023-24 school year ranged between 93.78%
for chicken pox to 95.78% for hepatitis B.
But parents can obtain exemptions for religious or personal reasons,
or if a doctor determines it would not be safe because of a medical
condition.
Exemption rates in Texas have been rising for nearly two decades,
with a dramatic spike over the last five years. According to the
Texas Department of Health Services, the agency received exemption
requests for nearly 153,000 students in the 2023-2024 fiscal year,
up from 136,000 the previous year and nearly double the 77,000
requested in 2019.
Texas' vaccine rollback
The bill on vaccine exemption paperwork would make it easier for
parents to obtain the needed form by letting them download it to a
computer or smartphone. The current system where parents ask state
health officials to mail a paper copy to their home can sometimes
take weeks. The form would still need to be notarized before it is
turned in to a school and a student is enrolled.
Advocates say the changes would help parents thread the bureaucratic
process and get their children enrolled in school quicker.
“This bill is not about whether vaccines are good or bad, it's about
government efficiency and keeping kids in schools,” said Jackie
Schlegal, founder of Texans for Medical Freedom, which advocates for
“vaccine freedom of choice.”
Critics argue that simplifying the exemption form process makes it
too easy for unvaccinated kids to enroll in a school, endangering
the health of other kids and families.
"For years Texas has struck a delicate balance of parents' right and
public health and safety," Lakshmanan said. “This bill is more than
just a form ... We can support parents without putting other
families at risk.”
Still waiting for a Senate vote is a bill that would allow vaccine
makers who advertise in Texas to be sued if their vaccine causes a
person to be injured. That bill has been opposed by the Texas
Association of Manufacturers.
The author of that bill is first-term state Rep. Shelley Luther, who
was briefly jailed in 2020 for opening her Dallas salon in violation
of governor's emergency order during the pandemic. Abbott quickly
weakened his enforcement of coronavirus safeguards and a court
ordered her released.
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