vaccine exemptions

Despite the spike in demand for measles shots following the deadly 2025 outbreak, exemptions on all vaccines for schoolchildren rose after the release of a downloadable exemption form.

From a West Texas measles outbreak to rising vaccine exemptions statewide, families of immunocompromised children depend on herd immunity, which is slowly eroding.

Months after public health officials say they caused the nation’s largest measles surge in 30 years, some West Texas Mennonites have grown more skeptical of the mainstream medical system.

Federal Medicare and Medicaid regulations mandate staff vaccinations for employers that receive funding. But the high court ruled that Katlin Keeran was protected by a 2021 Kansas law making it illegal for employers to question the sincerity of religious beliefs for opting out of vaccines.

More Oklahoma children are entering kindergarten with exemptions from vaccines.

Faced with a skeptical religious community that became the center of the outbreak, public health officials say they may have pushed too hard on vaccine messaging.

The total number of confirmed cases linked to the region's measles outbreak is now up to 738.

Ninety- four people have been hospitalized with measles since it first broke out in Gaines County in January.

Gilbert Handal witnessed the devastating toll of measles on children in a Chilean hospital before the vaccine. Now, he warns of the dangers of forgetting that past.

The bill would allow a vaccine exemption form to be downloadable. Currently, a form must be requested from the state and mailed to the recipient.