Vaccination rates have been
declining nationwidesince the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and now sit below 93 percent. An estimated
280,000 kindergartners in the United States do not have documentation of an M.M.R. vaccine, according to federal data.
Texas public schools require children to have received certain vaccines, including the M.M.R. shot, but parents can apply for an exemption for “reasons of conscience,” including religious beliefs.
Last year,
more than 13 percent of K-12 students in Gaines County received a vaccine exemption, according to state health department data. That is one of the highest exemption rates in the state.
Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said that the cases had been concentrated in a “more insular” community in the county, among people who attend church and private schools together. Many of the children are also home-schooled, Ms. Anton said.
As of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom were unvaccinated, local officials said.
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