Rebecca Hardy, a speech pathologist, recounts her close-up view of lawmakers during the 2015 state legislative session and how difficult it was to find anyone who shared her desire for more vaccination options for Texans.
She traveled to Austin the previous year after founding Texans For Vaccine Choice in an attempt to locate legislators who might be interested in legislation that would support parents who feel that their children should have the freedom to choose whether and when to get vaccinations.
“We were on the scene far before COVID was even a word that anybody knew and 10 years ago, we did kind of have to sneak around the Capitol, have these conversations about vaccine mandates in the shadows,” the resident of Keller says now. “And it was really hard to find people willing to put their names on protective pieces of legislation.”
The impact of a worldwide pandemic.
Republicans are now submitting the majority of vaccine laws that seek to rescind vaccination obligations, whereas Democrats filed the majority of vaccine measures ten years ago in an effort to encourage vaccine use. An amendment to the Texas Constitution that would protect Texans’ choice to refuse vaccinations is even being proposed by a House joint resolution.
The proposal is one of more than 20 proposals that Hardy’s group has sponsored and filed, the most of which were submitted prior to the start of this month’s parliamentary session. Some of these include laws that would:
- Make it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinations.
-
Ensure
no one is denied medical care
based on vaccination status.
-
Keep across-the-board
vaccine mandates
at bay.
-
Give the Texas Legislature final approval on any
new vaccinations required by schools
.
-
Apply more rules
for dispensing the COVID-19 vaccination.
-
Demand more transparency
when it comes to a national clearinghouse on adverse effects of vaccines.
“TVC is not anti-vaccine,” stated Hardy. “Our goal is not to undermine the vaccination program or limit anyone’s access to vaccines. Therefore, we don’t take sides on whether kids should receive all, some, or none of the immunizations.
She is adamant that she prefers legislation that better protects families’ freedom to decide what medical care, including vaccinations, they get.
This sentiment is becoming more popular, especially in the wake of President Donald Trump’s reelection and his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And at a time when research has repeatedly demonstrated that vaccines save lives and money, it’s a bit of a countertrend.
According to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control research published last summer, vaccinations for children born between 1994 and 2023 have prevented more than 1.1 million deaths and $540 billion in medical expenses by reducing illness and expensive hospital stays.
However, healthcare professionals are concerned about this shift away from immunizations. According to a Texas Hospital Association position paper, there are worries that vaccines have been politicized and that, since they are so effective, their significance is now undervalued. Any choice to forego a vaccination should be carefully considered, taking into account the impact on others, according to association spokesperson Carrie Williams.
“Vaccine decisions impact the availability of care, hospital workforce and wait times, and the people around you,” she stated. “We’re always going to be on the side of policies that help prevent epidemics.”
Focus on the vaccine exemption process
Children and students in Texas must be vaccinated in order to attend schools, daycare facilities, and colleges. If someone is in the military, has a personal or religious opinion that prevents them from getting vaccinated, or a medical professional deems it unsafe to get vaccinated, they may claim they are exempt.
At the moment, parents who wish to request a vaccination exemption for their children must send an affidavit to their house from the state Department of State Health Services. This process can take up to three weeks. The affidavit must be notarized by the requestor when it is received.
According to Hardy, “It’s very inefficient,”
“If you don’t have the right in what you inject or not inject in your body, then what rights do we have?” “I said,” Hardy said.
Government affairs expert Travis McCormick founded the organization Make Texans Healthy Again, which promotes improved access, affordability, and openness in healthcare. As a new father, he expressed surprise at the strict adherence to the infant vaccination schedule by healthcare staff.
“I had a pediatrician who said if we didn’t get all four (vaccines) in one day we couldn’t be a client,” McCormick recalled.
House Bill 44 was approved that same year, making it illegal for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers to refuse patients treatment because on their immunization history.
According to Hardy, her group vigorously advocated for both laws.
Hardy remarked, “In my perspective, our movement is just beginning,” in reference to the successes in 2023. “We’re barely chasing the pickup.”
The appetite for vaccine exemptions growing
Since 2003, when then-state senator Craig Estes proposed a bill that permitted Texans to claim a conscientious exemption in addition to the already-existing exclusions based on medical and religious grounds, there has been a steady increase in interest in getting vaccine exemptions, according to data. He recently informed The Texas Tribune that he still stands by that choice.
The number of exemption form requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services has quadrupled since 2018, rising from 45,900 in 2018 to over 93,000 in 2024.
According to Lara Anton, an agency spokesperson, all requests for exemption affidavits are approved.
“There is no gatekeeping,” Anton mentioned.
However, the majority of youngsters in Texas are immunized. Over 90% of pupils in kindergarten and seventh grade had all of the necessary vaccinations.
Views on shutdowns and the COVID-19 vaccination underwent a significant change as Texans recovered from lockdowns and adapted to a new vaccine that became more accessible in 2021. When the infections spread in the United States starting in March 2020, Abbott acted swiftly to keep schools and businesses closed through executive orders, but by November, he was defying calls for additional lockdowns.
Public health activists and officials are concerned about the quantity of vaccine legislation since the public’s fatigue with requirements is now affecting vaccination rates.
“I fear the vaccine issue is something they (state lawmakers) will continue to chip away at, like abortion, the border,” Burke stated. “It’s like death by 1,000 cuts.”
She predicts a challenging legislative session that ends on June 2 and will loosen the exemption procedure while also placing further strain on healthcare providers, who may be subject to more outbreaks if exemptions are made simpler.
“It will be difficult. It’s going to be very difficult,” she remarked. “Blocking them is our only option.
Some of the legislation filed so far focus on the Vaccine Adverse Reporting System, or VAERS, a collection of self-reported post-vaccination health issues. Others mandate physicians to report to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of health-related problems that result in death or incapacitation after a vaccine was administered.
He believes the process during the race to get a COVID-19 vaccine was so fast that he and other Texans did not have enough details to evaluate potential risks for themselves.
“I hope RFK can get a more transparent system,” Perry said, referring to Kennedy if he is approved as U.S. health secretary. “We like to believe our doctors and our science” but Texans, Perry insists, want more information.
RELATED:Houston Health Department reports city s first measles cases in seven years
Health experts like Dr. Peter Hotez of Houston say vaccine choice or vaccine hesitant groups exaggerate the adverse effects of vaccines and downplay the good they do in keeping deadly diseases from killing more Americans.
Whooping coughis now returningto pre-pandemic levels. After the measleswas officially eliminatedin the United States in 2020, the disease has returned, occurring usually after someone has contracted it in another country. Polio, another disease thought to be eradicated, was detected in New York State wastewater in 2022.
Hotez is concerned that hesitancy and refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine is having a “spillover” effect on childhood immunizations.
“I m worried about it unraveling our whole pediatric vaccine ecosystem,” he said.
Dan Keemahillcontributed to this report.
