Parents in Central Texas are opting out of vaccinating their children at unprecedented rates, according to recently released data published by KXAN. The report features a mother from Austin who decided to stop vaccinating her children after her daughter had an adverse reaction to the rotavirus vaccine.
The rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq is a liquid given orally in a three-dose series at the two, four and six months, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The second most common rotavirus vaccine, Rotarix, is given in two-dose series at ages two and four months.
Infants can be given the rotavirus vaccine as young as six weeks old.
“The doctor took one look at her diaper and said she’s just reacted to rotavirus, I would not give her that vaccine again,” said Catherine Getz, adding that was the reason she decided not to vaccinate her other children.
Getz told KXAN that she’s not convinced her kid’s health depends on a vaccine. “The little guy hasn’t really had anything at all yet and he’s completely unvaccinated,” said Getz.
She is not alone. Getz is part of a growing community that’s become increasingly cautious about vaccines. Officials in Texas report a significant increase in non-medical vaccine exemptions, which under state law are permitted for religious or philosophical reasons.
Williamson County, part of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area, has seen a 76 percent increase in non-medical vaccine exemptions over the past five years. During that time, parents of more than 2,400 students filed and received vaccine exemptions.
Areas nearby are experiencing similar numbers regarding immunization rates. For example, Travis County is seeing an even larger increase in vaccination opt-outs, with more than 3,500 students skipping school vaccine mandates over the last five years – an 84 percent increase.
Vaccine exemptions in Bastrop County, also making up part of Greater Austin, expanded 105 percent over the last five years. Blanco County, located west of Travis County, witnessed a 150 percent increase in vaccine opt-outs, reports KXAN.
Responding to the numbers, doctors gathered in Williamson County to discuss their position on the matter. Dr. Erich Sturgis, professor of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said not vaccinating is risky.
“Not vaccinating our children is essentially putting them at risk for potentially life-threatening diseases, as well as putting the public at risk for these diseases,” Sturgis told KXAN.
The debate over vaccine safety has moved front and center. The Houston city mayor reportedly threatened to yank $100,000 in grants from WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival if they screened Andrew Wakefield’s documentary VAXXED: From Cover-up to Catastrophe.
VAXXED details decades of scientific fraud within the CDC concealing the link between vaccines and the injury they sometimes cause, as well as their connection to autism.
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