Texas measles outbreak could grow as more parents opt out of vaccinating kids, doctors say
Many Texas doctors said they fear the current measles outbreak may be just the beginning, given how state data shows an increasing number of parents are opting out of vaccinating their children.
As of Tuesday night, there were 223 confirmed measles cases in Texas, with the majority in the South Plains and Panhandle regions, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Children under 18 make up about 78% of these cases — and one unvaccinated child has died.
In Texas, there are seven vaccines the state requires children get in order to attend K-12 schools, including the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. However, parents are allowed to file a conscientious exemption to these immunizations without needing to give a religious or medical explanation.
The percentage of kindergarteners whose parents filed conscientious exemptions has been on the rise since 2014, according to state data — with 3.63% of parents filing an exemption for the 2023-2024 school year, compared to 1.29% a decade prior. In 102 Texas counties, the vaccine exemption rate more than tripled in that time period.
Researchers stress that keeping that percentage below 5% is crucial for herd immunity for measles, which makes it hard for the virus to spread. While the statewide number has not exceeded that 5% threshold, there are hundreds of smaller pockets with higher concentrations of unvaccinated children across the state. Health officials say each of these is a potential outbreak waiting to happen.
Last year, 90 Texas counties, including Denton and Collin, were considered at high risk of a measles outbreak because the vaccine exemption rate exceeded 5%. In Gaines County, the epicenter of this latest outbreak, nearly 18% of kindergarten parents filed a vaccine exemption.
In an extensive investigation last year, the CBS Texas I-Team found parents who choose to file vaccine exemptions often live in the same communities, attend the same churches, and send their children to the same schools. The I-Team identified more than 240 DFW-area schools (160 public, 80 private) where campus vaccine exemption rates were greater than 5%.
Liz Piñon, a Crowley mother of 12-year-old triplets with compromised immune systems, worries about the growing number of unvaccinated children in Texas schools.
Establishing herd immunity is especially important for her triplets and other vulnerable children. Born at 25 weeks, the Piñon children spent much of their early life in the hospital, and even now, their immune systems are fragile. This means certain vaccines, like the measles shot, may not fully protect them.
"If my kids get sick, it's not like your average child," Piñon told the I-Team last year. "It will be more detrimental to them, and it might shorten their life span."
Vaccine hesitancy now mainstream
Dr. Alice Phillips, a pediatrician at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, said the current measles outbreak is something doctors saw coming, considering the upward trend of vaccine hesitancy.
"We hoped that we could continue to message and to educate and to turn that tide, but we have seen this coming," Phillips said.
Turning the tide, Phillips said, is a challenge because there are multiple factors that could lead a parent to choose not to vaccinate their child.
For years, groups like Texans for Vaccine Choice have advocated for the rights of parents to choose whether their children get their state-required immunization shots. Their efforts became more mainstream when they took on COVID-19 vaccine policies. Doctors say this has led to more parents rethinking long-standing vaccines.
"I think what we have to focus on is that we both have the same goal," Phillips said. "We both want our children to be safe and to be healthy. And they're trying to balance what they may hear on the Internet, on social media with what we're telling them, which is very complex science."
