Vaccine hesitancy growing in Bexar County
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As kids are heading back to school, a growing number of Bexar County parents have been opting out of vaccines for religious or personal reasons.
Why it matters: Lingering vaccine hesitancy from the pandemic is evident in pediatricians' offices.
- While official data lags, public health experts tell Axios anecdotal reports suggest vaccination rates continue to fall, leaving the population more vulnerable to outbreaks.
The big picture: U.S. parents still overwhelmingly support childhood vaccinations. But kindergarten exemptions rose to a median of 3.3% nationally during the 2022-2023 school year, up from 2.7% the year before.
- A Gallup poll this summer found that 69% of respondents view childhood vaccines as "extremely" or "very" important, down from 94% in 2001.
- Gallup attributed the drop-off to people who lean Republican, noting the percentage of that cohort saying childhood vaccinations were "extremely important" stood at 26% this year, compared to 62% in 2001.
By the numbers: About 3.5% of Texas kindergartners had vaccine exemptions in the 2022-23 school year, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- That's up from 2.9% statewide in the 2021-22 school year.
The ease of opting out of vaccinations varies by state and can have a direct bearing on uptake, Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, told Axios.
- In Texas, officials grant exemptions if a health care provider determines a vaccine isn't safe for the student, the student is in the military or the student's religious or personal beliefs oppose immunization.
- A parent or legal guardian can request an affidavit to ask for an exemption from required school vaccines.
- The COVID-19 vaccine is not required to attend school in Texas, per the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Zoom in: In the 2013-14 school year, 0.79% of Bexar County kindergarteners were exempted from vaccines for religious or personal beliefs, per state health department data.
- That figure rose to 2.65% of local kindergarteners in the 2022-23 school year, the most recent year with available data.
- At Northside ISD, the largest district in the San Antonio area, 1.19% of K-12 students had religious or personal vaccine exemptions in the 2022-23 school year.
- That figure stood at 1.58% in North East ISD and 0.74% in San Antonio ISD.
What they're saying: It takes a 95% vaccination rate to maintain herd immunity against a disease like measles, said Tom Lacy, chief of Florida Primary Care for Nemours Children's Health.
- Parents are not just opting out of the well-known childhood shots against measles, mumps and rubella known as MMR, they're also turning down vaccines against whooping cough, chicken pox, meningitis and the flu, he said.
Yes, but: It's not just hesitancy, it's "a perfect storm" of factors like physician shortages and pharmacy closures that are putting a drag on vaccination rates, FarmboxRx CEO Ashley Tyrner told Axios.
The bottom line: "You have to try," Ranney says. "Immunizations don't just happen."
What's next: New COVID-19 vaccine boosters are beginning to roll out to local pharmacies.