Gaines County is a vast, flat expanse far in the west of Texas: more than 1,500 square miles of sparsely populated farmland. And right now, this is the epicenter of a measles outbreak the likes of which this state hasn’t seen in more than 30 years. Many here say the virus has spread quickly among the Mennonites, a tight-knit Anabaptist community that works much of this land.
“That’s the biggest cohort of the population that is unvaccinated,” said Dr. Leila Myrick, a physician on the front lines fighting this highly contagious and potentially fatal infection, which had been declared eliminated from the Unites States in 2000. “The predominant people that we’re seeing with it are in the Mennonite community. But it’s not only them.”
There are now 159 identified measles cases across nine West Texas counties. A combination of a large, vaccine-hesitant religious community, some similar skepticism in the rest of the local population and laws that allow them to make a choice in vaccinating their children appear to be the combination fueling this spread.
Many older Mennonites had to get vaccinated when they became American citizens after moving here from Mexico, starting in the 1970s. But many younger Mennonites are now choosing not to vaccinate their children, according to Tina Siemens, who runs a museum charting her people’s centuries-long flight from religious persecution in Europe and their years here in West Texas.
“Because they were self-sustaining,” Siemens explained. “They did not go to the local doctor for everything, because they had a home remedy.”
Siemens is now translating local health department offers of free vaccines into German because some in her community do not speak English. But her translations appear to be falling on some deaf ears.
Even still, she feels that her community is being unfairly maligned over this measles outbreak, which has claimed one life: a young girl who Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, said was a member of the Mennonite community. The state says the child was unvaccinated and had no underlying health conditions.
“I feel that it is so much negativity directed at the Mennonite community,” she said. “It’s really not fair when there are others that choose the same pathway.”
The vaccine skeptics of Gaines County aren’t only found in the Mennonite community. In the public schools – a reflection of the broader community – more than 17% of kids are unvaccinated because they have “conscientious exemptions.”
According to state data, that figure is among the highest in Texas. And Texas is one of only 16 states in the nation that allow a vaccine opt-out for purely personal beliefs, rather than religious or medical reasons.
“When you get a low enough vaccination rate, that’s when outbreaks of measles can happen,” Myrick said. “Over the years, people have been more and more reluctant to get vaccines. And so the vaccination rates have been declining.”
Right now, vaccinations are available for free, seven days a week, in Seminole, the dusty county seat.
“We’re a local radio station. We try to promote the vaccines,” said Dave Fisher, news director at local radio station KSEM/KIKZ. He claims there is only a small group of skeptics in the English-speaking community, and he says he understands some of their reasoning.
There’s a warm, small-town vibe in Seminole, with its one long and windy main street dotted with agricultural product purveyors and friendly little eateries abuzz with chatter in English, German and Spanish. That, Fisher says, might be driving the spread.
“The German community interacts with the regular community, and if there is somebody out there that has not had the vaccine, obviously, they could catch the measles,” he said.
“I’m not talking about maligning them,” he added, but “I think it started there.”
Perhaps a few hundred vaccine skeptics – Mennonites and others – are now getting the vaccine as this outbreak spreads.
“Yesterday, I heard of a family that really encouraged the vaccine,” said Siemens, the museum curator. “And praise the Lord, we have that freedom here in America.”