Health care
BY SARAH HERNANDEZ
Health Care Edition
2024
Community Impact 's annual Health Care Edition features news on the timeliest topics in the industry. I delivered my first child eight years ago and I remember being surprised when hospital staff suggested I book a room on my due date like I would a hotel. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one scheduled to have a baby then, and today, there are perhaps even more women who need a delivery room. In our cover story, we explore the latest U.S. Census numbers revealing an increase in the number of births in Travis County and how hospitals are responding. This story is part of our Health Care Edition which we deliver every June in all editions of Community Impact . Much like a baby, every edition is unique.
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What's inside
Over 1M Texas children cut from Medicaid (Page 20)
Psychiatric care expands at rebuilt Austin hospital (Page 25)
Austin Public Health ends COVID-19 reporting (Page 29)
Vaccine exemption rates are on the rise in Texas schools
Percent of students in K-12 with a conscientious exemption Exemption rates
Vaccination rates in school-age children were high for the 2022-23 school year, but increasing conscien- tious exemption rates and lingering pandemic dis- ruptions prevent them from being higher, according to the National Conference of Legislatures. The context In the 2022-23 school year, rates for consci- entious exemptions increased by 0.5% for most vaccines in Texas public schools, bringing the exemption rate to 3%, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. State law allows for conscientious exemptions from vaccinations for a variety of reasons, including religious belief, according to DSHS. Chris Crookham, the immunizations unit program manager at Austin Public Health, said the pandemic may have affected the rise in exemption requests. “Because of the fear and concern around the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine, ... I think there was probably a large demand or a large request in exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines,” Crookham said. “That might have probably had some effect on exemptions for other vaccines as well.” Rebecca Hardy, a speech-language pathologist
and president of Texans for Vaccine Choice—an organization that aims to protect and advance vaccine choice through education and public policy—shares the same sentiment. The COVID-19 vaccine brought attention to other childhood vac- cinations that do not have “the safety or efficacy testing that you would have expected,” she said. Texas has three conditions for students’ vaccine exemptions: • If a health care provider determines a certain vaccine unsafe for the student • If the student is in the U.S. military • If they have a personal or religious belief against getting immunized “Certainly, some exemptions are legitimate, and that’s why they exist… but, of course, the more exemptions you have, the lower vaccine update you have,” Crookham said. “With a lower vaccine uptake, then there’s going to be less immunity throughout the population.” The DSHS has different immunization require- ments for different grade levels at public and private schools, and students entering kindergar- ten and seventh grade require new vaccinations. Students in those grades in Travis and Hays counties had an immunization rate of over 90%
Williamson
0.68-1.57% 1.58%-2.99% >3.00%
Travis
Bastrop
Hays
Caldwell
Comal
Guadalupe
Bexar
N
SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES/COMMUNITY IMPACT
for every required vaccine. Going forward
Crookham said APH has several programs to increase vaccine accessibility, such as the Shots for Tots clinics; the Mobile Vaccine Program; and Vaccines for Children.
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NORTH CENTRAL AUSTIN EDITION
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