Measles Outbreak Hits Area With High Rate of Unvaccinated Children

Fifteen measles cases have been confirmed, mainly among unvaccinated school-aged children in Gaines County, a West Texas county with one of the highest vaccine exemption rates in the state, the Associated Press reported.

The South Plains Public Health District confirmed its first case of measles on Jan. 31 in Gaines County, which marked its first measles case in the county in over 20 years. Last year, Gaines County had a 13.60% exemption rate among school-aged children, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data. (The Associated Press also reported the numbers of unvaccinated kids in the county is likely significantly higher as many children in the county are homeschooled and the data would not be reported.) The only counties with higher exemption rates in Texas were Bell County with 18.82% and Crosby County with 23.68%. Looking at kindergarteners alone, Gaines County also had the third highest exemption rate in the state with 17.62% and surpassed only by Throckmorton County with 27.27% and Briscoe County with 20.0%.

Texas allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs, the news agency reported. In turn, school-aged children with exemptions has risen during the last decade in Texas from 0.76% in 2014 to 2.32% last year, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data. For kindergartens in Texas the rate increased from 1.35% to 3.63%, during the decade.

The Houston Health Department (HHD) also identified two cases of measles associated with recent international travel on Jan. 23, confirming the first cases of measles in Texas since 2023.