Lessons from the Front Line: Advocating for Vaccine Policies at the Texas Capitol During Turbulent Times

Abstract

In 2003, anti-vaccine activists successfully advocated to change Texas law to make it easier for parents to send their children to public school without school required vaccinations. Over fifteen years ago, 2,314 non medical exemptions were filed. The Texas Department of State Health Services recently reported in the 2018-19 school year, 64,176 exemptions were submitted. As the number of non-medical exemptions increase, the risk for a vaccine preventable outbreak also increases.