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Burke: Deadly measles outbreak does little to counter vaccine scepticism in Texas

Apr 15, 2025

Madeline Halpert
BBC News
April 11, 2025

On an unusually crisp April day in a rural Texas town, dozens of Mennonite community members gathered alongside the nation’s top health official, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to mourn the death of an eight-year-old.

Daisy Hildebrand is the second unvaccinated girl from the community to die from measles in two months.

Officials in Seminole town also joined the reception after her funeral to support the family, said South Plains Public Health Director Zach Holbrooks. This time, there was no talk of the vaccine that prevents measles deaths – unlike many of his long days since the outbreak began.

“The focus was on their healing,” Mr Holbrooks said. “You never want to see anybody pass away, especially a child that young, from any kind of illness, because there is a prevention for it – the MMR vaccine.”

Like other Seminole natives, Mr Holbrooks was not vaccinated against measles as a child. He got a shot in college, and another in February, when his hometown became the epicentre of one of the country’s worst measles outbreaks in a decade.

The US has seen more than 700 cases this year, a sharp rise on the 285 cases reported in 2024. The majority of infections – 541 as of Friday – occurred in western Texas, with 56 patients sent to the hospital.

Cases in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas also are linked to the outbreak. Two children, including Daisy, have died – the first recorded fatalities from measles in the US since 2015.

It’s not slowing down either, public health experts say. They try to reach vaccine-hesitant residents, but struggle with those who carry on with daily life as usual, alongside mixed messaging from federal officials, including Kennedy, who has endorsed immunisation conspiracy theories in the past.

“I wish there were more coming in to get the vaccine,” Mr Holbrooks said. “We can put messaging out, but it’s up to them to come see us.”

Going about’ life in a measles epicentre

The western Texas town of Seminole – population 7,000 – is bordered by miles of rural farmland and oil fields.

Among billboards for restaurants, gun silencers and tractors, a digital sign hints at the crisis gripping the community: a warning about the dangers of measles, which can cause complications including pneumonia, brain swelling and death.

It has spread rapidly among Mennonites, a religious community living near Seminole. Mr Holbrooks estimates the population could be as many as 40,000 across several counties. In those areas, public school vaccination rates are as low as 82%.

Roughly 95% of a community must be vaccinated against the measles to achieve herd immunity – when enough of a group is immune to a disease that its spread is limited and the unvaccinated are protected.

Mr Holbrooks remembers when the Low German Mennonite group began migrating to his hometown and nearby states in the 1970s. The religion has no specific doctrines against vaccinations, but they tend to avoid many modern aspects of life, including the health care system.

Their community is not alone. At least 118,000 kindergarteners in Texas are exempt from one or more vaccines, mostly in rural areas, according to Terri Burke, director of Texas vaccine advocacy group the Immunization Partnership. Parents can get a waiver to exempt their child from school vaccine requirements for a variety of reasons, including religion.

Savannah Knelsen, an 18-year-old server at a Seminole barbecue restaurant, has not been vaccinated against measles – or anything else.

Many of her family members and friends – also unvaccinated – caught the measles in recent weeks. One relative developed a fever of 104.5F (40.2C), but still chose not to go to the hospital.

The recent deaths of two children have not convinced her to get vaccinated, she said, adding that she was healthy and wanted to let her body “fight off” infections. Experts agree the vaccine is the best way to prevent infections – including severe ones.

Ms Knelsen’s 19-year-old co-worker, Jessica Giesbrecht, along with her family, has been vaccinated against the measles.

“I’m worried for my baby niece,” Ms Giesbrecht said, adding that she was too young to be vaccinated.

Still, the two said the outbreak doesn’t weigh heavily on daily life. Others in Seminole agree.

A cashier at a local pharmacy said no one has stopped by for measles vaccinations since the outbreak started. “People are just going about their lives,” she said.

Kennedy tries to ‘cover middle ground’

On Sunday, Kennedy made his first trip to the region since the outbreak to attend the eight-year-old girl’s funeral.

The top US health official is an unlikely figure to spearhead the fight against measles – having in the past endorsed conspiracy theories about immunisation, including debunked claims about links to autism. He downplayed the outbreak in western Texas at first, calling it “not unusual”.

Trump echoed these remarks last weekend, saying that only a “fairly small number of people” had been impacted, when he was asked about it by the BBC aboard Air Force One. It was “not something new”, he added.

On Wednesday, Kennedy gave his strongest statement yet in support of the measles vaccine, telling the BBC’s US partner CBS News: “The federal government’s position, my position, is that people should get the measles vaccine.”

The remarks were met with social media backlash from some anti-vaccine supporters. Kennedy added, however, that the government “should not be mandating” vaccines.

The influence of some of his earlier remarks lingers.

In one of several Mennonite-owned natural-health stores in Seminole, dozens of bottles of cod liver oil – a supplement that contains vitamin A – are on display. Alongside the vaccine, Kennedy has promoted vitamin A as an alternative measles treatment, a remedy doctors say should not be given without guidance from a physician and is no substitute for the vaccine.

The treatment has at times proven dangerous. Covenant Children’s Hospital in nearby Lubbock told the BBC it has treated several unvaccinated children with measles for vitamin A toxicity – some had attempted to use it as a preventative measure.

The community needs federal officials to provide stronger messaging to help convince people to get vaccinated and slow the outbreak, said Gordon Mattimoe, director of the health department in nearby Andrews County.

“People look to their leaders to lead,” he said.

Jeff Hutt, a former spokesperson for the Make America Healthy Again political action committee and Kennedy’s former national field director, argued that the health secretary had to “cover the middle ground”, providing statements that are “politically adequate” while also providing sceptical stances on vaccines.

“In covering the middle ground, I’m not necessarily sure he was able to reassure folks that he had a handle on [measles], or that he was able to reassure folks that he was sticking to his guns,” Mr Hutt said.

Slashing funds in an outbreak zone

The Trump administration’s health policies could have other consequences in Texas, officials say. Local health departments are at risk of losing critical resources because of attempts to cut $11.4bn (£8.8bn) in public health grants. The move was temporarily blocked by a judge last week.

Mr Mattimoe said that because of the potential cuts – around $250,000 in grant funding for his health department – he is not able to hire a new nurse to give immunisations.

In a statement to the BBC, the US Department of Health and Human Services said it had deployed the “necessary” resources from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to respond to the outbreak.

“The CDC is in close, constant communication with local and state health officials on the ground to ensure they have what they need,” the official said.

The Texas Department of Health Services could lose as much as $550m in grant funding. It has provided staff, vaccines, testing and other support to local health departments, but likely will need extra funding, spokesman Chris Van Deusen told the BBC.

Mr Mattimoe contacted lawmakers and the state for help, but is not hopeful.

“I don’t think they have the funds,” he said.

‘Trusted messengers’

In nearby Lubbock, Texas, just two days after the news of Daisy’s death, all was quiet at the health department’s vaccination clinic.

Other days had been busier, with as many as 20 people coming in for vaccines, said Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city, where hospitals receive children with severe measles cases from more rural counties.

Since the outbreak began in January, the city of Seminole has vaccinated 103 adults and 143 children against the measles, Mr Holbrooks said. The neighbouring three rural counties decided to close their underused vaccine clinics and send more staff to hard-hit Seminole.

“There’s always talk on, what else can we do, and are we doing enough?” Mr Holbrooks said. “We want to build trust, not tear it down.”

At times, local health officials have seen progress.

A Mennonite doctor in Andrews County gained community members’ trust and encouraged them to get vaccinated, said Mr Mattimoe.

“Those trusted messengers in those communities – I think [they’re] very important,” he said.

Ms Wells hopes vaccinations will start to pick up after the latest measles death and the city’s new guidance to vaccinate children as young as six months, instead of one year.

The bigger city saw an outbreak at a daycare, among children too young to be fully vaccinated, a situation she believes will be helped by the earlier shots.

But “there’s always going to be some people that we don’t reach”, Ms Wells said.

That means the virus is likely to circulate for a while in western Texas regions where people are unvaccinated, officials said.

“We’re just at the beginning of it,” Mr Mattimoe said. “It’s going to have to run through the community. Until they get that natural immunity, it’ll just keep running its course.”

Lakshmanan: Texas Measles Outbreak Nears 100 Cases, Raising Concerns About Undetected Spread

Feb 21, 2025

Some private schools have shut down because of a rapidly escalating measles outbreak in West Texas. Local health departments are overstretched, pausing other important work as they race to limit the spread of this highly contagious virus.

The department has confirmed 90 cases with 16 hospitalizations, as of Feb. 21. Most of those infected are under age 18. Officials suspect that nine additional measles cases reported in New Mexico, across the border from the epicenter of the Texas outbreak in Gaines County, are linked to the Texas outbreak. Ongoing investigations seek to confirm that connection. read more…

Burke: As West Texas measles outbreak worsens, experts fear vaccine exemptions will make them more common

Feb 12, 2025

Houston Chronicle

As a West Texas measles outbreak continues to worsen, experts are concerned an increase in nonmedical vaccine exemptions among schoolchildren could make such outbreaks more common.

Twenty-four cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness have been confirmed in Gaines County, all of them in individuals who have not received the vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella. Twenty-two cases are children under age 18, and six are children under age 5, Texas Department of State Health Services said Tuesday. read more…

TIP STATEMENT: Communications Shutdown at Health Agencies Impacts Health and Safety

Jan 22, 2025

Texas should set the example in timeliness and transparency

The Trump administration has instructed federal health agencies – the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health – to pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts.

“Silencing communications from these health agencies puts lives at risk by delaying critical information, eroding public trust, and leaving communities unprepared to respond to health crises. Transparency saves lives—silencing does the opposite”, says Terri Burke, Executive Director. read more…

TIP STATEMENT: Victory in Corpus Christi!

Sep 19, 2024

On Tuesday September 17, the Corpus City Council voted down a dangerous motion that would have required the Corpus Christi – Nueces County Public Health District to provide unconfirmed and unreliable data to people who want or need the COVID-19 vaccine.

TIP gave public comments to the City Council urging them to vote against this measure.

Personal rights over public Health: Anti-vaccine rhetoric in the Texas Legislature

Jul 11, 2024

Vaccine: X

Vaccines are considered one of the top 10 health innovations of the 20th century [1]. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a large and sustained decline in childhood vaccinations [2]. Furthermore, vaccine requirements for school, work, and public spaces have become a political flashpoint linked with anti-mandate sentiment [3]. These concerns about vaccines come during a time of political polarization in the US, often promoted by conservative media and leaders [4]. read more…

TIP STATEMENT: Cy-Fair ISD School Board Continues Assault on Science

Jun 18, 2024

Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District trustees voted 6-1, Monday evening, June 17, 2024 to continue their assault on science education. They said they are representing the wishes of their constituents. Yet, 34 parents, students and teachers spoke in opposition, repeatedly saying they objected to the majority’s eagerness to make things like vaccines and climate change political, and objecting to the process that occurred behind closed doors. No one spoke in favor of the proposed changes.

Executive Director Terri Burke attended the school board meeting and recaps what happened.

Terri’s video statement about Cy-Fair ISD School Board Decision

PRESS RELEASE: Cancer Equity Gap Costs Texans Billions Annually Routine immunizations for some cancers can help prevent disease, aligning with interim charges that prioritize cancer prevention.

May 14, 2024

HOUSTON, TX — Today, Dr. Jennifer Molokwu, a member of the board of The Immunization Partnership (TIP) and Director of Cancer Prevention and Control at Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso, will present testimony at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services to speak in support of the interim charge prioritizing cancer prevention.

Referencing the billions of dollars that cancer costs the state of Texas, Dr. Molokwu will note:

“Fortunately, we can prevent many cancers with screenings, immunizations and other healthcare interventions readily available today. For example, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been proven to prevent HPV-associated cancers.

Any discussion of cancer prevention in Texas must directly address what we at The Immunization Partnership call the ‘cancer equity gap.’ HPV-related cancers attack Black and Latino women at a higher rate than their white neighbors. For example, Black women have a 60% higher incidence and twice the mortality rates of cervical cancer. Its incidence and mortality rates in the Rio Grande Valley are about 25% higher than the rest of the state and 55% higher than the remainder of the US.”

While HPV-related cancers are on the rise, particularly among men, many of these cancers are preventable through immunizations. As noted in Dr. Molokwu’s prepared testimony:

“Unfortunately, misinformation has shaken public confidence in some vaccines, like the cancer-preventing HPV vaccine, with fewer Texans availing themselves of this protection from HPV-associated cancers.

The Immunization Partnership is ready to work with the Lieutenant Governor and the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee to support efforts to prevent cancer. We hope that immunizations’ current and future cancer-preventing potential will be included in that work.”

TIP STATEMENT: TIP Chief Strategy Officer on the Cy-Fair ISD Decision: School boards have no business putting science education on political chopping blocks

May 8, 2024

Our Full Statement

HOUSTON, TX (May 8, 2024) — Following reporting that Cypress-Fairbank ISD is eliminating educational material about immunizations from district curriculum, The Immunization Partnership’s Chief Strategy Officer Rekha Lakshmanan said in a media statement:

“Politicizing the science behind immunizations that protect our children’s health and save lives is outrageous. And it’s especially dangerous at a time when our public health systems are constantly on the defensive against deliberate misinformation. Whether in the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD or anywhere else in Texas, school boards have no business putting science education on the chopping block.”

Cancer prevention gets hope, put into the spotlight in 2025 Texas Legislature | Opinion

May 6, 2024

Austin American Statesman

The last session of the Texas Legislature produced some of the country’s worst anti-vaccine bills in the country. Despite broad opposition, measures restricting employers’ rights and jeopardizing health care access for low-income children passed into law.

It is not an overstatement to say that public-health advocates like me do not often see eye to eye with Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.

TIP STATEMENT: TIP Executive Director Terri Burke on DSHS Budget Hearing: Fund Collapsing Health Infrastructure

May 2, 2024

Read Full Statement

HOUSTON, TX (May 2, 2024) — Following a Texas Department of State Health Services budget hearing Wednesday, The Immunization Partnership Executive Director Terri Burke said in a statement to the media:

“For the past 20 years, as Congress has cut funding for public health across the country, our state government hasn’t stepped up to fill the widening gap. Texas now ranks 40th in funding for our local, regional and state health service. And as we heard during legislative budget hearings on Wednesday, the folks on the front lines are witnessing the consequences.

Full Program Announcement for The Intersection

Apr 16, 2024

The Immunization Partnership is proud to announce the full program for its two-day public health summit, June 6-7 in San Antonio

HOUSTON, TX (April 10, 2024) — The Immunization Partnership (TIP), a statewide nonprofit committed to a healthy Texas, is pleased to announce the full program line-up for its public health summit, The Intersection.

“We are excited to bring this program together and to present it to Texas’ community of public health professionals, care providers and stakeholders,” said TIP Executive Director Terri Burke. “The health issues in Texas are reflective of what’s happening across the country, and they’re not isolated. That’s what The Intersection is all about.”

In addition to keynote speaker Daniel E. Dawes, J.D., an award-winning author and leader in the health-equity movement, The Intersection will feature an impressive and diverse group of thought leaders who will speak to Texas’ public health through issues of equity, philanthropy, storytelling, faith and advocacy.

The Immunization Partnership Calls on Texas Gov. and Lt. Gov. to Stand Up for Texans and Vaccines

Mar 5, 2024

Following a statement from former President Donald Trump that he would defund public schools that require vaccines if elected, The Immunization Partnership called on Texas leaders who have endorsed Trump to stand up for Texans’ health.

HOUSTON, TX (March 5, 2024) — The Immunization Partnership Executive Director Terri Burke called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to use their influence on their endorsed presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, to demand he retract his comments that he would defund public schools that require vaccinations.

In a media statement, Burke said:

The Immunization Partnership to Texas City and County Health Officials: Vaccine hesitancy erodes public health and institutions

Feb 22, 2024

At the same time, the alarming increase in nonmedical school vaccine exemptions highlights a disconnect between research confirming parental support for K-12 vaccines and growing anti-vaccine rhetoric

HOUSTON, TX (Feb. 21, 2024) — “Immunization policies are under attack all over the country because of vaccine hesitancy and an assault on science.”

Calling it an issue that erodes public health and public institutions, Terri Burke, Executive Director of the Immunization Partnership (TIP), made those remarks and more Tuesday at the Texas Association of City and County Health Officials (TACCHO) Conference, held Feb. 19-21 in Houston.

As lawmakers push more ‘anti-vaccine’ policies, Texas schools report soaring exemption rates

Feb 15, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Nonmedical vaccine exemptions continued to hit record levels among Texas schoolchildren last year amid state lawmakers’ attempts to weaken immunization requirements further.

During the 2022-23 school year, 3.24% of Texas kindergartners received an exemption “for reasons of conscience,” which includes religious beliefs, from at least one immunization required to attend school, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. That’s almost double the rate from 10 years ago, data shows. Texas is one of 41 states that saw an increase in school vaccine exemptions, which reached a record 3% nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Veteran ABC News Correspondent John Quiñones to Speak at The Immunization Partnership 2024 Annual Dinner

Jan 31, 2024

Texas native and veteran journalist will weave current events into an engaging presentation on how to take action and create better, healthier communities

HOUSTON, TX (Jan. 31, 2024) — The Immunization Partnership (TIP), a statewide nonprofit committed to a healthy Texas, is proud to welcome San Antonio native and award-winning ABC News correspondent John Quiñones as its 2024 dinner speaker.

Quiñones is the host of “What Would You Do?,” a program that puts the TV viewer in the place of action. He will weave broadcast clips from the show into an engaging presentation about the significance of current events and how to affect change. read more…

Author and Health Equity Leader Daniel E. Dawes, J.D., To Keynote Inaugural Health Summit

Jan 19, 2024

Hosted by The Immunization Partnership (TIP), the two-day summit will focus on the many intersections in public health to create change

HOUSTON, TX (Jan. 18, 2024) — The Immunization Partnership (TIP), a statewide nonprofit committed to a healthy Texas, announced Daniel E. Dawes, J.D., as the keynote speaker for its inaugural health summit, The Intersection, to be held June 6-7 in San Antonio at the Westin Riverwalk.

Texas attorney general sues Pfizer, claiming vaccines didn’t end pandemic quickly enough

Dec 1, 2023

THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Experts argue other assertions made in the lawsuit filing are completely unsubstantiated, such as one claiming that vaccinated people were more likely to die from COVID-19, which Texas health data disputes.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused drugmaker Pfizer of fear-mongering and lies about the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine, which the company insinuated would end the pandemic, according to a lawsuit Paxton announced Thursday.

“In a nutshell, Pfizer deceived the public,” reads the 54-page lawsuit, filed in a Lubbock state district court. read more…

“Let Vaccines Prevent What’s Preventable” The Immunization Partnership (TIP) Releases Empowering Video Series for Educators and Health Professionals

Nov 30, 2023

The Immunization Partnership Videos
HOUSTON, TX, Nov. 30, 2023 — Vaccines save lives. That’s why The Immunization Partnership (TIP), a statewide nonprofit committed to a healthy Texas, announced today they are releasing new empowering videos. These videos get the word out that vaccines save lives, preventing up to 3 million deaths every year by protecting people from nearly 20 different diseases. read more…

Texas lawmakers to reconsider banning private employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccine

Nov 1, 2023

KXAN Austin
When Texas lawmakers return for the third special legislative session Monday, they’re set to reconsider an effort to ban private employers from requiring their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

During an announcement Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott included that as part of the four agenda items that he set to guide the legislators’ work once they return to the Capitol. In addition to prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates for private employers, Abbott also directed them to take up legislation that would create an education savings account system and new criminal penalties related to border security. read more…

World Meningitis Day 2023

Oct 12, 2023

AMBIGUOSLY BLIND
On this World Meningitis Day, The Immunization Partnership is proud to share a thought-provoking podcast episode featuring our Chief Strategy Officer, Rekha Lakshmanan, in collaboration with Ambiguously Blind. read more…

Texas lawmakers to reconsider banning private employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccine

Oct 11, 2023

KXAN AUSTIN
When Texas lawmakers return for the third special legislative session Monday, they’re set to reconsider an effort to ban private employers from requiring their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

I worried the COVID vaccine gave my husband a stroke. It took a year to find the truth

May 22, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
My husband can’t watch soccer games anymore, and for a year I wondered if the COVID-19 vaccine was to blame.

His first stroke happened a few days after a COVID vaccination. It flummoxed everyone: He had no previous health problems, and the vaccine he got wasn’t associated with stroke. As a health researcher and vaccine proponent, I had a hard time making sense of it. read more…

COLUMN: Protecting our health requires rational policies

Apr 25, 2023

BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE
Despite the nearly nine-month reprieve from large spikes in COVID-19 cases, many Texans remain angry and frustrated by a pandemic that is mostly in our rearview mirror.

COVID-19 left a wide wake: one in 300 people lost their life, many in our own families; school closures affected our children; social isolation exacerbated the ongoing mental health crisis; and economic hardships continue. In short, COVID-19 touched everyone, leaving many bitter and discouraged. read more…

A ‘very, very bad bill’: Why this Texas vaccine bill has health workers worried

Apr 20, 2023

FT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM
A Texas Senate committee passed a bill Wednesday that public health advocates in the state have identified as one of the most worrisome anti-vaccine bills being considered during this legislative session.

The legislation, Senate Bill 1024, would significantly curb the ability of the state health department, school districts, cities and counties to require or promote vaccines of any kind. Although the bill specifically focuses on the COVID-19 vaccine, the bill also contains provisions that could affect future vaccines that don’t exist yet. read more…

Organización pro vacunas “TIP” visita Amarillo para abogar por las inmunizaciones

Apr 14, 2023

TELEMUNDO AMARILLO
Una organización a favor de la vacunación hizo una parada en Amarillo el martes, para abogar por las vacunas.

La organización se llama La Alianza para Inmunizaciónes y su misión es proteger nuestro estado de texas contra enfermedades. read more…

Local pediatrician encourages vaccines for kids

Apr 13, 2023

MYHIGHPLAINS.COM
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, immunizations for some children are declining and a local pediatrician said he is seeing the same trend.

Dr. Anders Leverton, a pediatrician at Texas Tech Physic ians, said about 90% of his families are getting their kids’ scheduled shots, while the other 10% are either getting an alternative schedule or no vaccinations at all. read more…

Students travel to Austin to advocate for vaccines

Mar 31, 2023

RICE UNIVERSITY
Vaccines Cause Adults, a collaboration between Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy’s Center for Health and Biosciences (CHB) and The Immunization Partnership, is a public information campaign to promote research-driven, factual information about vaccines. The goal is to promote vaccine access and equity as well as advance vaccination as a crucial public health strategy through summarizing data-driven research into clear, accessible information.

The CHB was also recognized in a resolution by state Rep. Ann Johnson for its work to support data-driven legislation that addresses U.S. health care, global health, public health and advances in medicine.

Vaccination rates in Texas schools are falling. Is this the solution?

Mar 29, 2023

DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Parkland Health’s new mobile children’s vaccination clinic will soon be rolling out to schools in Dallas County neighborhoods with low immunization rates. Students with consent forms from their parents will be escorted from class to the vehicle so they can receive their shots.

It might not be the most enticing invitation to skip class, but it could be one of the best things to happen to a child. And it’s an initiative that should be replicated across the state. Schoolchildren in Texas are required to be vaccinated against a slew of infectious diseases, yet vaccination rates keep sinking, even as diseases we had eradicated are making a comeback. read more…

Health experts or politicians? Who should set Texas’ vaccine schedule?

Mar 22, 2023

HOUSTON CHRONICLE
At first you don’t worry. After all, every kid gets a fever. Only a pediatrician of a certain age would even know to look in the back of your baby’s mouth for the classic white spots.

Then the miserable malady becomes all too obvious.

Three to five days after being infected with measles, an angry rash of red spots covers your child — face, shoulders, chest, back, legs — while their temperature spikes to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercifully, most kids recover from measles. If unvaccinated, though, one in five is hospitalized and one in a thousand gets brain inflammation and convulsions so violent to bring about permanent deafness or intellectual disability. read more…

The Shot Boosters

Feb 28, 2023

TEXAS OBSERVER
In the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines have become more of a life-saving necessity—and yet more controversial. These days, so-called “anti-vaxxers” are using the pandemic as a political base to attack requirements for long-established vaccines that have helped keep generations of Americans safe from crippling or potentially fatal childhood diseases like polio and the measles. Already U.S. vaccine resisters have created pockets of opportunity for outbreaks of diseases, like measles. In Texas, anti-vaccine advocates convinced the Legislature years ago to allow nonmedical exemptions for public school vaccine requirements. And more public health rules are under attack, which worries vaccine advocates like Dr. Julie Boom, a pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital who has studied the effectiveness of vaccines and serves on the board of The Immunization Partnership, and Rekha Lakshmanan, the nonprofit’s chief strategy officer. They joined the Texas Observer’s Lise Olsen in conversation. read more…

Stop the anti-vax madness in the Texas Senate

Feb 4, 2023

DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Texas is home to some of the best universities in the world. Our scientists are second to none. Cutting-edge medical research is happening in Texas right now that is literally saving lives and changing the world for the better.

But some of our elected officials responsible for protecting the health of all Texans appear distrustful of these highly respected doctors and scientists. For those of us who work every day to protect Texans against disease and pandemics, the report recently released by chairwoman Lois Kolkhorst of the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee is disappointing. read more…

Immunization leader visits Laredo, discusses 2023 goals

Dec 31, 2022

LAREDO MORNING TIMES
Vaccines have become a popular medical and political tool in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One organization is aiming to make sure the importance of vaccines is heard next year, not just from an educational standpoint but an advocacy one as well.

The Immunization Partnership is a state organization that advocates for public policies that increase immunization rates in Texas. Its executive director, Terri Burke, visited Laredo recently in efforts to talk about what the organization is and what its goals are in going into the new Texas State Legislative session in 2023. read more…

Newsroom

Burke: Deadly measles outbreak does little to counter vaccine scepticism in Texas

Going about’ life in a measles epicentre

Kennedy tries to ‘cover middle ground’

Slashing funds in an outbreak zone

‘Trusted messengers’

Lakshmanan: Texas Measles Outbreak Nears 100 Cases, Raising Concerns About Undetected Spread

Burke: As West Texas measles outbreak worsens, experts fear vaccine exemptions will make them more common

TIP STATEMENT: Communications Shutdown at Health Agencies Impacts Health and Safety

TIP STATEMENT: Victory in Corpus Christi!

Personal rights over public Health: Anti-vaccine rhetoric in the Texas Legislature

TIP STATEMENT: Cy-Fair ISD School Board Continues Assault on Science

PRESS RELEASE: Cancer Equity Gap Costs Texans Billions Annually Routine immunizations for some cancers can help prevent disease, aligning with interim charges that prioritize cancer prevention.

TIP STATEMENT: TIP Chief Strategy Officer on the Cy-Fair ISD Decision: School boards have no business putting science education on political chopping blocks

Cancer prevention gets hope, put into the spotlight in 2025 Texas Legislature | Opinion

TIP STATEMENT: TIP Executive Director Terri Burke on DSHS Budget Hearing: Fund Collapsing Health Infrastructure

Full Program Announcement for The Intersection

The Immunization Partnership Calls on Texas Gov. and Lt. Gov. to Stand Up for Texans and Vaccines

The Immunization Partnership to Texas City and County Health Officials: Vaccine hesitancy erodes public health and institutions

As lawmakers push more ‘anti-vaccine’ policies, Texas schools report soaring exemption rates

Veteran ABC News Correspondent John Quiñones to Speak at The Immunization Partnership 2024 Annual Dinner

Author and Health Equity Leader Daniel E. Dawes, J.D., To Keynote Inaugural Health Summit

Texas attorney general sues Pfizer, claiming vaccines didn’t end pandemic quickly enough

“Let Vaccines Prevent What’s Preventable” The Immunization Partnership (TIP) Releases Empowering Video Series for Educators and Health Professionals

Texas lawmakers to reconsider banning private employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccine

World Meningitis Day 2023

Texas lawmakers to reconsider banning private employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccine

I worried the COVID vaccine gave my husband a stroke. It took a year to find the truth

COLUMN: Protecting our health requires rational policies

A ‘very, very bad bill’: Why this Texas vaccine bill has health workers worried

Organización pro vacunas “TIP” visita Amarillo para abogar por las inmunizaciones

Local pediatrician encourages vaccines for kids

Students travel to Austin to advocate for vaccines

Vaccination rates in Texas schools are falling. Is this the solution?

Health experts or politicians? Who should set Texas’ vaccine schedule?

The Shot Boosters

Stop the anti-vax madness in the Texas Senate

Immunization leader visits Laredo, discusses 2023 goals

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