Texas Lawmakers Jab CDC Over COVID Shot Recommendation for Kids

Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Waxahachie) is leading the charge in Texas’ refusal to accept the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation to add the COVID-19 shot to recommended child vaccine schedules.

This week, Harrison led a group of lawmakers in authoring a letter to the CDC announcing their opposition to the recommendation.

He began his attack on the CDC’s recommendation last week following the addition of the COVID-19 shot to the child vaccine schedule. Harrison also took note of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services’s back-to-school website that proclaimed all CDC-recommended vaccines were required for Texas school children.

Harrison called TDHHS out for their suggestion that the COVID-19 vaccine could be required in Texas schools. They then took down their recommendation.

However, the battle hasn’t stopped for Harrison; he and 19 other state representatives, including members of the Texas Freedom Caucus, wrote a letter to the CDC earlier this week.

Harrison tweeted an announcement of the letter, explaining that it was sent directly to the CDC director, “formally rejecting their unscientific efforts to force COVID-19 vaccines on Texas students.”

The letter explains that lawmakers are “deeply troubled” by the CDC’s actions and disgusted by the lack of science behind the COVID-19 shot.

They said “Texas is under no obligation to follow this recommendation” and that the recommendation was made “without any clinical trial data, no recognition of the near-zero risk of death from COVID-19 in children, and no evidence of efficacy in children.”

The letter ends by promising to “introduce legislation next session that will ‘clearly reject this recommendation for the State of Texas’ and to publicly rebuff the anti-scientific attempt by unelected bureaucrats to force the COVID-19 vaccines on school-age kids.”

The following members signed the letter:

Keith Bell (R–Forney), Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park), Gary Gates (R–Rosenburg), Phil King (R), Mayes Middleton (R), Dennis Paul (R–Houston), Matt Shaheen (R–Plano), David Spiller (R–Jacksboro), Jeff Cason (R), Sam Harless (R–Spring), Matt Krause (R), Tom Oliverson (R–Cypress), Matt Shaefer (R–Tyler), Bryan Slaton (R–Royse City), Lynn Stucky (R–Sanger), Valoree Swanson (R–Spring), Steve Toth (R–The Woodlands), Tony Tinderholt (R–Arlington), and Cody Vasut (R–Angleton).

The next legislative session is slated to convene on January 10, 2023.

Soli Rice

A journalist for Texas Scorecard, Soli is a new Texan with a passion for politics. She's excited to hone her writing skills and help spread truth to Texans.