religious exemptions for vaccines

Fifty-eight patients have been hospitalized since the outbreak began in late January.

The measles outbreak in West Texas didn't happen just by chance. Health officials say the easily preventable disease has ripped through communities sprawling across more than 20 Texas counties in part because health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs.

With cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas and other states will have to spend more on public health. The biggest expense of a measles outbreak is the public health response in shutting down the outbreak.

Oklahoma is reporting one new confirmed measles case and another probable case.

Two measles cases have been reported at Fort Bliss and in the city of El Paso; Juárez reports four cases.

The Texas Department of State Health Services on Tuesday confirmed 24 more cases of measles since last Friday.

About 500 Texans, mostly young unvaccinated children, have contracted the disease. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the West Texas town that has been the epicenter of the outbreak.

Katherine Wells was celebrated early during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then public health became a political litmus test.

A new report by Oklahoma’s Division of Government Efficiency lays out several major policy shifts for the state. Ideas include eliminating $157 million of federal health care support, much to the consternation of policy experts and some Republicans.

The Kansas Supreme Court heard a case this week that stems from a Leawood woman who sought a religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for an occupational therapy job.