TEXAS — Texas lawmakers are making it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children before going to public school.


What You Need To Know

  •  Texas lawmakers are seeking to make it easier for parents to exempt their children from vaccinations before going to public school

  •  The proposed law will allow parents to download and fill out the exemption form, instead of waiting for it to be sent from the state

  •  The bill is on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. awaiting signature

  • Medical professionals still recommend vaccinations for all school-aged children

Instead of waiting for the state to send you a vaccine exemption form, parents may soon print and fill out the form if they want to skip any school-required shots. This decision is now in the hands of Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Marta Castaneda just had her first baby a few months ago. As a new mom, she’s had to make numerous decisions.

“As we’ve become new parents we’ve had to think about things we haven’t had to think about before in all aspects of life,” Castaneda said.

One decision she does not take lightly, she said, is deciding when her child will get recommended vaccines.

“When it comes to vaccinations, it’s a term of like having an understanding of what do we know and how do we feel about things versus doing research and people on medical websites and non-medical websites, and talking to doctors, there’s a lot of information out there and that makes it really challenging to know what you want to do,” Castaneda said.

The bill is now awaiting Abbott’s signature, and it is aimed at making school vaccine exemptions easier. 

“I see patients as an ER doctor whose parents come in and their kids are not vaccinated, and it’s their right, they’re their parents, it’s their right — but a lot of them are lucky because the community they live in there’s a large population where they’re living in that is vaccinated,” said Dr. Neil Agarwal, with Frontline ER.

The childhood immunization schedule approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that school-aged children receive at least 19 shots ranging from COVID to Hepatitis B. 

The recommended vaccine schedule is something Agarwal strongly encourages parents to follow.

“Most kids are vaccinated before they enter kindergarten, you have to understand, the reason you’re vaccinating them before kindergarten is because you’re going to be exposed to other kids — any parent understands they’re constantly having their kids come in with some virus but do you want to be on the opposite end of having your kid come in with a serious infection when they walk through the door,” Agarwal said.

Since 2018, data from the state’s health department shows vaccine exemptions have doubled to 93,000 in forms accepted from 2024 alone. 

Castaneda explains one struggle she thinks all parents are facing right now.

“There’s so much information out there from what our doctors are saying to TikTok and just people in general that we talk with,” Castaneda said.

Even though she doesn’t have to worry about sending her child to school yet — Castaneda continues to learn more and speak to her child’s pediatrician to decide the best timeline to get vaccines. 

“To really know what we’re gonna do, our first important decision was picking the right pediatrician, and once you feel comfortable with that decision, their suggestion is more often than not that’s what we end up doing,” Castaneda said.