In July, #Texas received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form, 36% higher than the number reported in July 20

[riversedge]

In better times--it used to be that kids could NOT enroll in public schools
unless they were vaccinated! These unvaccinated families/kids not only put
their own kids at risk but also ALL the other kids, teachers and staff in
the schools.


‪Texas Tribune‬
‪@texastribune.org‬
· 22h
Texas schools are on track to have the lowest vaccination rates in decades if exemption rates continue to climb.

In July, the state received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form, 36% higher than the number reported in July 2023.

Texas schools are on track to have the lowest vaccination rates in decades if exemption rates continue to climb.

In July, the state received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form, 36% higher than the number reported in July 2023.

— Texas Tribune (@texastribune.org) 2025-08-18T13:48:10.239Z

Vaccine exemption requests in Texas spike in July, as some experts fear more families will opt out

Federal funding cuts to immunization efforts and a new law that allows exemption forms to be downloaded, instead of mailed, could drive up exemptions in the future.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/18/texas-school-vaccination-budget-cuts/

By Terri Langford, Data reporting by Dan Keemahill

Aug. 18, 2025 5 AM Central
Texas school districts are coming back from summer with a rising number of parents asking for vaccine exemption forms and a new law that will make those documents even easier to obtain.

Combined with funding cuts to public vaccination programs, chilling effects of immigration policies on health care, and the wearying battle by school nurses to balance parental consent and overall student body health, Texas schools are on track to have the lowest vaccination rates in decades if exemption rates continue to climb.

“I do think that there is a problem — period — that is worse than we have known about previously,” said Terri Burke, executive director of The Immunization Partnership, which advocates for public policies that support increased access to vaccines.

Since 2018, the requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services for a vaccine exemption form have doubled from 45,900 to more than 93,000 in 2024. ...................

[ImNotGod]

1. Texass is becoming a massive petri dish for all kinds of nastiness, a one stop shop of virus horrors, avoid that fascist

run state like the plague.

[Hey Joe]

2. Will Texas be the epicenter of the next Covid

outbreak? Seems probable that that’s where this ignorance will lead.
Idiocracy is here in the form of social media, conspiracy theories, a cruel and lying administration and a misinformed public.
We are living in it.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. Herd immunity

It's different for different diseases. There have always been vaccine skeptics, but they were few enough that we were still above or close to the herd immunity threshold. These numbers are troubling and we're going to see these diseases become part of everyday life for people, and even the vaccinated won't be spared.

[Emile]

4. Recipe for disaster.