Newsroom

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

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:

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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…

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

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

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

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…

Students travel to Austin to advocate for vaccines

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?

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?

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

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

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

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…