In the past five years, the number of students in Cy-Fair ISD who have received waivers from mandated vaccines for “reasons of conscience” has risen by almost a quarter. The percentage may seem small—only 0.83 percent of the district’s students file for exemptions—but taken in context of the whole district, it equates to nearly 1,000 students.

Bevin Gordon, CFISD’s director for health services, said even though the number of students who have been granted a vaccination exemption has been rising, she believes there is little cause for concern overall.

“I don’t think the number is at a startling level at this point,” Gordon said. “With any vaccine, the larger the population that has immunity against a communicable disease, the more protected the community is as a whole.”

Parents and students can request a waiver for a number of reasons. The most commonly cited is reason of conscience, Gordon said. She said the term encompasses a vast array of reasons to exempt a student.

“I think it is because the criteria for medical exemption is so tight,” Gordon said. “A physician would have to verify that a vaccine would be injurious to a student’s health. Reasons of conscience includes religious reasons, so that category is a lot more broad.”

To file such an exemption, a parent or guardian must complete a request to the Department of State Health Services and then have it notarized. For medical exemptions, parents or guardians must have a signed letter from a physician indicating an injury that would be caused by a vaccine.

Dawn Tollefson, a CFISD parent, said she received a medical exemption for her sons after they were diagnosed with autism at a young age, a diagnosis she believes is connected to vaccines. 

Although exemptions are on the rise, CFISD officials emphasize the importance of education.

“We are very lucky in this country that we don’t see large outbreaks of polio,” Gordon said. “The actual illness is so [distant] in memory, but people often forget that it is because of vaccines.”