Editor's note: This editorial has been corrected to reflect the measles advisory for Ellis County was issued in 2018.
A measles outbreak health advisory issued last year by the Texas Department of State Health Services is a reminder that this state is walking down a dangerous path by issuing too many waivers to parents who don’t want their children to get immunization shots required to attend school.
Texas is one of 18 states that allows waivers of school vaccine requirements based on parents’ conscience or personal beliefs. Last year nearly 57,000 students claimed a non-medical exemption from taking otherwise mandatory shots to attend school. Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and Plano all rank among the top 15 metropolitan areas in the nation for vaccine exemptions.
Many of these waivers were granted at the request of parents who still believe the debunked theory that childhood immunization may cause autism or other disorders. Despite scientific evidence that the theory is just plain wrong, Texans for Vaccine Choice has successfully lobbied the Texas Legislature to kill any bill that would make it more difficult to get a vaccine waiver.
The state issued a measles advisory after six cases were confirmed in Ellis County, south of Dallas. The advisory noted that one person with the disease went to the movies at a Waxahachie theater last January. It takes 10-12 days for measles symptoms to show. What if a child at that movie theater wasn’t vaccinated? What if that child went to school not knowing he was contagious. That’s how easily an outbreak can spread.
A public health emergency was declared Jan. 18 in Washington state, where 26 measles cases have been confirmed since the month began. The outbreak was mostly confined to Clark County, Wash., where almost a quarter of all public school students are not vaccinated. Officials said 19 of the 23 cases had never received a measles vaccine. Eighteen are children 10 years old or younger.
For most people, measles means a blotchy skin rash, a runny nose, maybe a cough — but the disease can be fatal. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the last measles death in the United States was recorded in 2015. Worldwide, however, the disease kills more than 100,000 people a year, most of them children with no access to the vaccine that could have saved their lives.
Texas needs to clamp down on the number of vaccine waivers this state is granting. Legislators swayed by “preservation of personal liberties” groups like Texans for Vaccine Choice forget that every freedom has its limits. That is especially so when it comes to protecting the lives of vulnerable children.
“Children have a fundamental right to be protected against deadly childhood infections, just like they are entitled to be placed in a car seat or a safety belt,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, head of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. That shouldn’t be so hard for legislators to understand.