Statewide data shows Texas anti-vaccine movement is growing

Some counties have nearly 9 percent of their public and private school students attending class without vaccines. Some counties have nearly 9 percent of their public and private school students attending class without vaccines. Photo: Pixel_away/Getty Images/iStockphoto Photo: Pixel_away/Getty Images/iStockphoto Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Statewide data shows Texas anti-vaccine movement is growing 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN — More parents are opting against vaccinating their children, according to new state data showing nearly 57,000 students claimed at least one non-medical exemption from otherwise mandatory shots.

That’s nearly 4,000 more students attending school missing vaccinations in the 2017-18 school year than the year before.

While the new tallies from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services puts the number of conscientious objectors at more than 1 percent of Texas’ school children for the first time, some counties have nearly 9 percent of their public and private school students attending class without vaccines. Individual schools can have higher unvaccinated rates, such as an Austin private school where parents of nearly half the students opt out of vaccines.

The growth in skipping the vaccines that are otherwise required to attend school is part of a national choice movement giving parents more power to exempt their children from drugs they fear could cause autism or other harm. Medical experts have debunked allegations that vaccines cause autism and insist the drugs are safe. They argue the increase in so-called “anti-vaxxers” jeopardizes other children with weakened immune systems from diseases like measles.

MORE: Texas No. 1 ‘hotspot’ for vaccine exemptions

Texas is full of cities with a high number of vaccine exemptions. Houston, Fort Worth, Plano and Austin have the among the highest numbers of vaccine opt-outs in the nation, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine. Texans for Vaccine Choice, a group pushing to let parents decide whether to vaccinate their children, has gained a political foothold in Texas’ Republican Legislature to fight against efforts to take that choice away.

Andrea Zelinski is a staff writer who covers politics. Read her latest stories here . Follow her on Twitter and Facebook . Send her tips at andrea.zelinski@chron.com.