Texas vaccine exemption surge

Texas schools confront rising requests for exemption forms as new rules ease access, while funding gaps strain vaccination programs.

Texas vaccine exemption surge hits July amid policy shifts and budget cuts

Texas school districts are returning from summer with a sharp rise in requests for vaccine exemption forms. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 17,197 exemption requests in July, a 36% rise from July 2023, and the number of children covered by those forms grew to 30,596 in July 2025 from 23,231 in July 2023. A Sept 1 law will allow the exemption form to be downloaded rather than mailed, a change public health experts say could widen access to exemptions while potentially weakening herd immunity. Funding cuts to public vaccination programs and the chilling effects of immigration policy are cited as factors limiting routine vaccination.

Vaccination rates among Texas kindergarteners hover around 93%, but pockets of lower coverage exist. In the Austin district, 79.6% of kindergartners were up to date on MMR in 2024-25, and Gaines County reported 77% in the same period, showing local gaps that can leave communities vulnerable to outbreaks. Texas also leads the nation in the number of unvaccinated kindergartners for measles. Public health visits to summer vaccination clinics have declined, a trend linked to concerns about immigration enforcement and reduced federal funding that supported larger immunization staffs. Local health departments report that staffing cuts are narrowing capacity for clinics and that school nurses face heavier workloads, especially in record-keeping and chasing vaccination records.

The data point to a clash between parental choice and public health aims. Expanding access to exemption forms may be politically popular but it runs against the goal of protecting all students in classrooms. Budget pressures and policy shifts ripple through health systems, affecting how clinics operate and how nurses manage records.

Beyond the numbers, the piece shows a fragile safety net. Fewer nurses and smaller immunization teams, coupled with reduced funding, increase the risk of missed vaccinations and create incentives for districts to forgo strict enforcement. The challenge now is to balance respect for families with the need to shield children from preventable diseases while sustaining schools as places of learning, not clinics.

Highlights

Public health is a shared responsibility that tests the capacity of schools to protect students.