The Texas House passed a bill Wednesday that would make it significantly easier for parents to exempt their children from public school vaccine requirements. Authored by Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston, the legislation allows anyone to download the exemption form and eliminates the current requirement to request the form by mail and get it notarized. The form applies to vaccines such as those for polio, hepatitis A and B, and measles.
Hull said the bill would streamline government operations and save the state about $177,000 annually in postage and labor. She repeatedly emphasized during debate that “this bill is about where a form is printed,” downplaying concerns raised by Democrats and public health advocates. Critics warn that easier access to exemption forms will lead to lower vaccination rates, threatening herd immunity and putting medically vulnerable children at risk, as first reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Democrats attempted to amend the bill to include additional safeguards, such as requiring parents to read educational materials about vaccines and mandating that schools report immunization rates. These amendments were rejected, largely along party lines. Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, argued that the bill’s real-world effects would be “more kids opting out of immunization, more kids opting out of vaccines.”
The bill’s passage comes amid a statewide measles outbreak, with 717 cases reported this year and two children confirmed dead. The Department of State Health Services recently linked new cases in Collin and Rockwall counties to an outbreak in West Texas. The legislation now heads to the Senate, and if passed, will go to the governor for final approval.
