Health care
BY BRITTANY ANDERSON
Vaccine exemptions up from 2023-24
Diving in deeper
In EISD, 62 of 8,139 students had reason of con- science exemptions in 2019-20, or less than 1% of the student body. That grew to 285 of 7,595 students with exemptions, or nearly 4%, in 2024-25. Medical exemptions increased from 6 to 53 in that time. Ennis said she has also seen an increase in LTISD reason of conscience exemptions after the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, 255 out of 11,805 students had either exemption in 2019-20, or 2.16% of students. That grew to 700 out of 11,010 students with exemptions in 2024-25, or 6.4%. LISD also follows the state’s “exclusion day” pro- tocol where once monthly students without proper immunization or exemption records are excluded from school until they reach compliance, said Cristin Wicketts, LISD’s director of health services.
Between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, medical or reason of conscience vaccine exemptions increased from 2.9% to 4.5% in Eanes ISD, 4.9% to 6.4% in Lake Travis ISD and 12.5% to 15.3% in Leander ISD, district data shows. Districts are required to follow the Texas Department of State Health Services set list of required vaccinations for all public schools, but state law allows students to receive vaccine exemptions through for medical reasons, reasons of conscience due to religious or personal beliefs, or those in the military. The law does not allow exemptions out of “inconvenience,” such as lost or incomplete medical records, according to the DSHS. Reason of conscience exemptions must be notarized and are valid for two years, while medical exemptions must include a statement from the student’s physician and can be valid for life, LTISD lead nurse Jamie Ennis said. “With the reasons of conscious exemptions, I think there’s been kind of a fear of vaccines since the COVID vaccine, and it’s basically leading to students not getting immunized that have a solid history of being safe,” Ennis said. Medical exemptions tend to not be common at her school but do pop up, EISD Bridgepoint Elementary nurse Leslie Boldrick said. “I’ve had a student that has had an allergic reaction to the first [measles vaccine dose],” Boldrick said. “... I’ve had students that came in from other countries and they needed to start the series, but [their physician] didn’t want to do all of them at the same time.”
Immunization exemptions in Eanes, Lake Travis, Leander ISDs This data reflects the number of students that have at least one medical or “other” exemption, such as a reason of conscience exemption.
Eanes ISD exemptions
68
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
151
121
139
223
338
0
Lake Travis ISD exemptions
255
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
272
291
One more thing
286
555
700
In LTISD, officials are working to provide an affordable mobile vaccine clinic to students before the 2025-26 school year begins. More information on each district’s requirements can be found at: • Eanes ISD: www.eanesisd.net/dept/health/ immunizations • Lake Travis ISD: www.ltisdschools.org/ departments/student-health-services/ immunization-requirements • Leander ISD: www.leanderisd.org/ immunizations
0
Leander ISD exemptions
5,326
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
3,317
2,586
10,035
5,320
6,504
0
SOURCES: EANES ISD, LAKE TRAVIS ISD, LEANDER ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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