Personal rights over public Health: Anti-vaccine rhetoric in the Texas Legislature

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an observed increase in anti-vaccine sentiment linked with requirements for the vaccines. But how did these ideas impact the politics of vaccines? In this paper, the authors analyze witness statements from the 2021 Texas Legislative Session during vaccine-related hearings. Specifically, the research focused on five hearings for bills that related to vaccine requirements or vaccine transparency laws filed during the 2021Texas Legislative Session and witnesses who opposed these measures. From the 128 witnesses cataloged and analyzed, we found 84 witnesses opposed to vaccines. Medical freedom and the right to opt-out of a medical procedure as well as concerns about vaccine safety and effectiveness were most frequently used by witnesses to justify their stance against vaccine requirements or vaccines. While some witnesses were opposed to all vaccines, most focused their objections on the COVID-19 vaccine specifically.

Keywords: Anti-vaccine; Medical freedom; Texas; Vaccine hesitant; Vaccine policy.

Fig. 1

Identification Schema of Vaccine-Related Bill Hearings in the 2021 Texas Legislative Sessions. The Texas Legislature Online database was searched for bills filed during the 2021 regular and three special sessions for the term ‘vaccine.’ Bills were excluded that did not have a hearing or did not address vaccine transparency or requirements. Five bills were identified and testimony from their hearings were analyzed.

Fig. 2

Timeline of key dates associated with vaccines approvals, Biden Executive Orders (EO) and bill hearings in Texas. Notes: FDA: Food and Drug Administration; EUA: Emergency Use Authorization; J&J: Johnson & Johnson.