Amid Texas Measles Outbreak, Conservatives Double Down on Anti-Vax Crusade

Texas is experiencing its largest outbreak of the measles virus in 30 years. As of March 4, the state health agency has identified 159 cases, including 22 hospitalizations and one death. Though centered in Gaines County, cases have been identified in eight other surrounding counties in West Texas. 

Meanwhile, this legislative session, lawmakers have filed nearly 50 vaccine-related bills, most focused on loosening vaccine regulations. The most extreme bills would end mandatory vaccinations altogether. House Bill 3304, filed by Representative David Lowe of North Richland Hills, would prohibit any government entity in Texas from requiring vaccines or proof of immunization. House Joint Resolution 91, filed by Representative Andy Hopper of Decatur, would enshrine the “unalienable and natural right to refuse a vaccination” into the Texas Constitution. 

This type of legislation has come amid the most recent wave of anti-vaccine fervor fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Rekha Lakshmanan, the chief strategy officer for The Immunization Partnership, which advocates for vaccination in Texas. She said opposition to COVID-19 vaccines has become a “gateway” to targeting other vaccines. Last session, Governor Greg Abbott signed laws that banned both government entities and private employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccines. 

“Now what we’re seeing is a full-on assault on our state’s immunization program,” Lakshmanan told the Texas Observer. “Activists felt like they could take advantage of the [COVID-19 pandemic] and exploit it and start going after laws that have been on the books for decades.” 

This is often done under the rallying cry of “medical freedom.” Some of the most worrisome bills, Lakshmanan said, are those like House Bill 1586 and Senate Bill 94 that make it easier for parents to decide not to vaccinate their school-age children, by easing the vaccine exemption process. Currently, Texas public schools require children to be vaccinated against several diseases, including measles. However, since 2003, K-12 and college students have been able to get exemptions for medical reasons certified by a doctor, for conscientious reasons, including religious beliefs, or if they’re in the U.S. military.

The number of exemptions have increased in the past 20 years. In 2011, only about 1 percent of Texas kindergartners had non-medical exemptions, according to CDC survey estimates. That number has risen to 3.6 percent in the 2023-2024 school year. 

Higher exemption rates in certain parts of Texas enabled the current measles, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). If an area dips below a 95 percent vaccination rate for measles, it is more likely for outbreaks to occur. Most of the cases are in Gaines County, a small county in West Texas that is home to a Mennonite community that is resistant to government mandates. The county has a kindergarten Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination rate of 82 percent, placing it in the bottom 10 counties in terms of vaccination rates, DSHS data shows. 

Of the 159 cases of measles identified as of March 4, only five have been identified to have at least one dose of the MMR vaccine, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Having two doses of the vaccine is 97 percent effective against contracting measles, according to the CDC. On February 26, an unvaccinated child died of measles. 

“We’ve had the sad circumstance of a young school age child die of measles,” Lakshmanan said. “Yet we see these lawmakers doubling and tripling down, filing these bills and advocating for these policies that will harm Texas children in the long run.

Lakshmanan said that she hopes the outbreak will cause politicians to rethink their policies. “I hope it’s a wake up call,” Lakshmanan said.

Governor Greg Abbott first publicly commented on the outbreak via X on February 28, saying “Texas will deploy all necessary resources to ensure the safety and health needs of Texans.” He did not mention vaccinations. 

On Monday, the Texas House Public Health Committee heard invited testimony about the measles outbreak. DSHS executive director Jennifer Shuford said the agency still hasn’t determined the origin of the outbreak but pointed to lower immunization rates as a reason for the severity. “At 95 percent, we have what’s called herd immunity. We know when those vaccine levels get lower than 95 percent that there’s enough unprotected people together to cause an outbreak,” Shuford said, according to the Texas Tribune. 

In the meantime, conservative legislators are targeting vaccines in different ways—Lakshmanan calls it a “whack-a-mole approach.” House Bill 1356, filed by Representative Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth, would prevent healthcare providers from discriminating against patients based on vaccination status. (Schatzline took to X in his usual fashion to celebrate his children’s school being the “least vaccinated” in Texas. The school, Mercy Culture Preparatory Academy, has a vaccination rate of about 14.3 percent.)  Another bill, Senate Bill 91, filed by Senator Bob Hall of Edgewood, would allow employees to sue their employers for vaccine related deaths or injuries. 

“The goal is to cast vaccines into the shadows,” Lakshmanan said. “That has deadly consequences.” 

Still, even the new U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., perhaps the most prominent anti-vax crusader in the country, has expressed his “deep concern” about the Texas outbreak and says parents may want to consider vaccinating their kids. 

“Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,” Kennedy wrote in a Fox News op-ed.Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has put his focus on another urgent issue: better marketing the supremacy of the state’s beef by changing the name of “New York Strip” to “Texas Strip.” He has yet to say anything about the measles outbreak.

Disclosure: Terri Burke, the executive director of The Immunization Partnership, is also a board member for the Texas Observer’s parent nonprofit.