Immunization Opt-Outs Increase
Texas public and private K-12 schools reported to the state — in a mandatory annual survey — that for this school year, 72,743 of their students opted out of otherwise mandatory vaccination requirements by having a conscientious exemption affidavit on file at their schools.
That’s 8,567 (13 percent) more students than last school year. See graphics below.
The results are reflected in the Annual Report of Immunization Status of Students — 2019-20 School Year by the Texas Department of State Health Services Immunization Unit.
Although the survey is required by state law to be completed by all public schools and accredited private schools annually, the response rate is never 100 percent.
This school year’s survey drew responses from more than 94 percent of the 1,181 public school districts (including charters) and 920 accredited private schools — that collectively have 5,389,096 K-12 students enrolled. The data was collected, online, over a two-month period ending Dec. 13, 2019.
The counties with schools reporting the highest percentages of students with conscientious exemption affidavits on file were both in West Texas (see graphic on the right).
The county-wide exemption rates for the 252 other Texas counties ranged from 0 to 4 percent, or had schools that did not report any data.
Private Schools Top the List
The data also reflects that private schools overwhelmingly top the list of having the highest percentages of students exempted from vaccine requirements for conscientious exemptions — starting with No. 1 ranked private Austin Waldorf School, where 42 percent of its students were reported to have the exemptions on file.
For the top 10 schools with the highest percentages of students exempted for non-medical reasons, only two are public schools, and both are Austin-based charters: 1) No. 5. ranked Austin Discovery School (36 percent exempted) and 2) No. 10 ranked Valor Public Schools (27 percent exempted).
Ranking first for ISDs (and ranked 32nd overall on the list) for non-medical exemptions is Loop ISD, with a 16 percent exemption rate. The district is one of three ISDs in Gaines County, which has the highest countywide exemption rate in the state.
Kindergarten and 7th Grade
The report also provided detailed immunization data, on a per-vaccine basis, for kindergarten and seventh grade only, both statewide and for every responding ISD/charter and private school.
Overall, immunization compliance rates were above 95 percent for all the required vaccines in both grades.
Aside from conscientious objections, other reasons listed for a kindergarten or seventh grade student not having all the required immunizations included: 1) medical reasons, 2) being provisionally enrolled in a school and 3) due to a “delinquency” in getting vaccinated.