Texas prides itself on being open for business for good reason. The state has built one of the nation’s strongest economies — a nearly $2.9 trillion economy leading the country in job growth.
Families, employers and communities depend on stability. That means children are in school, parents are at work and businesses are operating without avoidable disruption.
People may not immediately connect vaccine policy to the economy, but healthy communities keep economies strong. When preventable diseases spread, classrooms empty.
Parents miss shifts, meetings and paychecks. Small businesses scramble to cover schedules. Health care costs rise. What began as a health issue quickly becomes an economic one for families, employers and taxpayers.
As delegates gather for state political conventions in Houston and Corpus Christi this month, lawmakers are being faced with renewed pressure to revisit school vaccine policies. Before listening to the fringes on both sides, convention delegates should ask one practical question before advancing any proposal: Will this make Texas communities more stable — or more vulnerable?
This is not an abstract political debate. As more children are opted out of school vaccinations, Texas faces renewed measles concerns and the highest whooping cough levels in more than a decade. Since 2003, the number of students whose parents opted them out of required school vaccines has increased more than 5,600%, reaching nearly 133,000 last school year. Texas is moving in the wrong direction at a consequential moment.
Policy makers have a responsibility to weigh consequences for entire communities. School vaccine policy is not just about one child or one family; it affects neighborhoods, classrooms, workplaces and the broader stability of the state. Parents deserve clear, credible information from trusted medical professionals.
Yet many are navigating mixed messages – with fear travelling faster than facts. Texas leaders should be careful not to mistake organized pressure or online misinformation for what is truly in the best interest of Texas families.
Vaccines help keep kids healthy and in school, parents at work and employers free from preventable disruption. They also help families avoid medical bills, lost wages and the long-term costs that can follow serious illness. In a time when Texans are worried about inflation, household budgets and the cost of doing business, weakening one of the most proven tools for preventing avoidable illness makes little economic sense. Preventing disease is almost always less costly than responding to outbreaks after the damage is done.
School vaccination policies work. Texas’ long-standing guardrails have helped protect generations of children from diseases that once routinely closed schools, filled hospitals and devastated families. Recent national polling found that nearly four in five adults support routine childhood vaccine requirements for school attendance, underscoring that these protections are less divisive than the loudest voices suggest.
At The Immunization Partnership, we work with families, physicians, educators, community leaders and policymakers who do not agree on every issue. What unites us is a shared commitment to protecting children and strengthening communities. That work is not about party politics. It is about prevention, trust and helping Texas families thrive. Disease does not care whether a community votes red or blue — only whether enough people are protected.
In a state that prides itself on economic strength and competes for jobs and investment, healthy communities and stable schools are part of what keeps Texas strong. Vaccine policy should reinforce that stability, not weaken it.
Before changing policies that have helped protect Texas families for decades, leaders in both parties should ask one simple question: Will this decision make Texas communities stronger and more stable — or more vulnerable to disruption? Texans deserve policies grounded not in politics or pressure, but in what keeps families healthy, schools open and communities strong.
Rekha Lakshmanan is executive director of The Immunization Partnership, a nonpartisan Texas nonprofit focused on protecting children’s health through immunization education and evidence-based policy.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: At Texas conventions, one question should guide vaccine policy | Opinion
Reporting by By Rekha Lakshmanan, special for the Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rekha Lakshmanan, special for the Avalanche-Journal | USA TODAY Network
