Before becoming a school nurse in Austin, Texas, Becca Harkleroad assumed mandated childhood vaccinations were just part of back-to-school.
“It never occurred to me until I was a school nurse that immunizations could be such a controversial topic,” said Harkleroad, executive director of the Texas School Nurses Organization (TSNO).
The controversy has only gotten more divisive in recent years, she said, leading more parents to exempt their kids from receiving mandated vaccinations before heading back to school due to religious or philosophical reasons.
In the 2024-2025 school year, 17 states had more than 5% of kindergarteners claiming a nonmedical vaccine exemption. Depending on the state, not every school building has a nurse on site. But if they do, the extra workload to handle those exemptions typically falls on them, Harkleroad said.
DEI crackdown, vaccine backlash: Why back-to-school looks so different this year
