Vaccine Choice' leader urges Republicans to support Texas proposal on care and vaccination status

Record ID: 2358004

  • Title: Vaccine Choice' leader urges Republicans to support Texas proposal on care and vaccination status
  • Date: 27th February 2026
  • Summary: HOUSTON, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 25, 2026) (REUTERS) CESAR ARIAS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT AT HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL, WALKING TO OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CESAR ARIAS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT AT HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL, SAYING: "There are facts and evidence and overwhelming evidence of the benefits of those vaccines in society. Unfortunately, the era o
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  • Keywords: Texans for Vaccine Choice Texas choice prop 3 vaccinations vaccine
  • Location: HOUSTON, KELLER, LUBBOCK AND SEMINOLE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • City: HOUSTON, KELLER, LUBBOCK AND SEMINOLE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Health/Medicine,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA004896626022026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A ballot measure before Texas Republican primary voters is drawing renewed attention to debates over vaccine policy, with advocates on opposite sides citing the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent measles outbreak in West Texas.
    Republican Proposition 3 asks whether the state should prohibit denial of healthcare or medical services based solely on a patient's vaccination status. The nonbinding measure, part of a slate of propositions on the 2026 primary ballot, has been embraced by Texans for Vaccine Choice, a conservative grassroots group founded in 2015 that has since grown into a political action committee.
    “You know, what's great is that the conversation around vaccines has definitely, it's less controversial. The temperature has definitely dialed down about this,” Hardy said. “People are realizing that maybe big pharma doesn't always have our best interests in mind and conditioning medical care on an arbitrary cookie cutter medical procedure is maybe not what Texas should be about.”
    Hardy said the pandemic fundamentally reshaped public sentiment.
    “We all experienced collectively the response known as the COVID pandemic,” she said. “We've never had in modern history such a massive spotlight on big pharma's undue influence in nearly every aspect of our lives. And a lot of people woke up to that influence.”
    Public health experts have pushed back on the measure and the broader movement supporting it. Dr. Cesar Arias, an infectious disease specialist at Houston Methodist Hospital, said the scientific evidence behind vaccines remains overwhelming.
    “There are facts and evidence and overwhelming evidence of the benefits of those vaccines in society,” Arias said. He argued that disinformation has fueled fear and turned skepticism into “almost… a political identity.”
    Texas health officials reported that two children died in West Texas last year as part of a measles outbreak, a disease considered preventable with routine childhood immunization.
    “We are in the United States of America, which is the richest country in the world. We're in the middle of a measles outbreak,” Arias said. “For me, the death of a child that is preventable is unacceptable.”
    Arias said lingering mistrust from the pandemic continues to influence attitudes toward routine vaccination.
    “I think part of this was what happened with COVID and the vaccines and probably unfortunate messages that were delivered that sort of cemented that negative publicity,” he said.
    (Production: Evan Garcia, Rich Matthews, Jane Ross)
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