West Texans, Mennonites at center of measles outbreak choose medical freedom over vaccine mandates

SEMINOLE, Texas (AP) — Measles had struck this West Texas town, sickening dozens of children, but at the Community Church of Seminole, more than 350 worshippers gathered for a Sunday service. Sitting elbow-to-elbow, they filled the pews, siblings in matching button-down shirts and dresses, little girls’ hair tied neatly into pink bows.

Fathers shushed babbling toddlers as their wives snuck out to change infants’ diapers.

A little girl in this mostly Mennonite congregation was among those who’d fallen ill with the highly contagious respiratory disease, senior pastor David Klassen said — but she’s doing fine, and she happily played through her quarantine. He heard at least two Mennonite schools shut down for a bit to disinfect.

What he hasn’t heard: Any direct outreach from public health officials as the number of those sickened with measles has grown to 146 and a school-age child has died.

“With this measles situation, I can honestly just tell you we haven’t taken any steps as a church,” he said. “We did leave it up to the mothers.”

As measles — a preventable disease the U.S. considered eliminated in 2000 — spreads through West Texas’ rural expanse, Klassen is sticking to an approach that's a key tenet for Mennonites. Family leaders are the top decision-making authority — not outside recommendations, certainly not government mandates.

Alongside measles in this region, where voters overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump, there’s another outbreak: one of misinformation about vaccines, distrust of public health officials and fear of governmental authority overruling family autonomy. On the national stage, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the country’s top health official and an anti-vaccine activist, dismissed the Texas outbreak as “not unusual.”

“Do I trust all the vaccines? No,” Klassen said. “And I get from (Kennedy) that he doesn’t trust all the vaccines, either. And he is very well educated in that; I’m not.”

Vaccine skepticism has been spurred by state lawmakers who filed more than a dozen bills this year that would strengthen or expand vaccine exemptions, which Texas already allows for “reasons of conscience, including a religious belief.”

Doctors on the front lines

At hospitals in Lubbock, babies with measles are struggling to breathe.

Dr. Summer Davies, a Texas Tech Physicians pediatrician, has treated about 10 patients, most very young or teens. She said children have had to be intubated. Some have such high fevers or severe sore throats that they refuse to eat or drink to the point of dehydration.

“It’s hard as a pediatrician, knowing that we have a way to prevent this and prevent kids from suffering and even death,” she said.

In Lubbock County, 92% of kindergarteners are up to date on their measles, mumps and rubella shots, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That’s lower than the 95% threshold experts say is needed to prevent measles from spreading.

Gaines County, which includes Seminole, has an 82% MMR vaccination rate, and it may be lower for private or home-schooled students. The vaccine is required before entering kindergarten in public schools nationwide.

All of the children admitted with measles to Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock were unvaccinated, officials said last week. Dr. Lara Johnson, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said Covenant has seen more than 20 patients since the outbreak began in late January.

Many doctors are seeing measles cases for the first time. In Lea County, New Mexico, 30 minutes west of Seminole, nine cases with no clear connection to the Texas outbreak rattled doctors and parents.

“Our phones were just ringing,” said Dr. Rumbidzai Mutikani, a pediatrician at Nor-Lea Hospital District’s Hobbs Medical Clinic.

Katherine Wells, Lubbock’s public health department director, said West Texas’ rural landscape is a major challenge, not just in getting to patients and transporting test samples, but in getting word out.

A lot of messaging is word of mouth, she said, but they are working on public-service announcements, putting up billboards about measles, handing out flyers and posting in WhatsApp groups.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused “a lot of distrust in public health” and government requirements, Wells said. On Facebook, people have accused her of making up the measles outbreak.

It’s “really hurtful stuff,” she said. “We’re really working to help encourage vaccines for our community and help those kids that are infected to make sure they get medical treatment so that we don’t end up with another death.”

Pro-Trump, but ‘not anti-vaxxer’

The reality on the ground can be nuanced.

Brownfield Mayor Eric Horton is pro-Trump, he said, but also pro-MMR vaccine.

His county was hard-hit by COVID-19, with nearly 90 deaths. So when measles came to his town of 8,600, Horton feared for his community. He said the local hospital has been busy administering vaccines.

“We are conservative people, but we also are not anti-vaxxers,” he said.

Across the region, people echoed this sentiment about childhood vaccinations. Often they were less supportive of COVID-19 and flu shots.

“It’s frustrating that (Mennonites) don’t vaccinate, and they put other people’s families and children at exposure for it,” said Stephen Spruill, a 36-year-old trucker from Seminole.

But “this is America. People have the right to choose.”

Macey Lane, 31, of Hobbs, said: “I do support Donald Trump. I don’t support not requiring vaccines.”

All of Lane’s kids are vaccinated. Praising Sen. Mitch McConnell’s vote against Kennedy’s nomination, she said the fact that “the only Republican that went against RFK was a polio survivor says a lot.”

“As far as RFK being an anti-vaxxer, this is the most important thing: People have to make a decision for themselves and be as informed as they possibly can,” Horton said.

Pediatricians are seeing the consequences of that stance.

Mutikani said she’s seen vaccine hesitancy increase as parents come with worries that reflect what’s trending on social media.

Having “these really big, respected public figures openly going against the grain, going against research and what we know, it makes it really, really difficult,” she said.

Most Texans are still vaccinating their kids, including Jennifer Sanchez. The 26-year-old Odessa resident took her 6-year-old and 1-year-old last week to get the measles vaccine.

She wishes she had more information.

“The government needs to give us more tools so we can protect ourselves,” she said.

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AP journalists Mary Conlon and Julio Cortez contributed to this report.

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This story is part of a collaboration between The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to promoting civic engagement, and The Associated Press. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.