State data show gaps in tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis vaccinations among school-age children as the school year ramps up. The Texas Medical Association continues to fund successful local efforts to distribute vaccines and promote education.
Vaccines Defend What Matters, a grant program offered through TMA and the TMA Foundation (TMAF), creates funding opportunities to improve vaccine education and vaccination rates in Texas. The program is accepting applications through Aug. 21, with decision notifications expected by Sept. 25.
The majority of Texas schoolchildren are getting their school-required shots – more than 90% of all kindergartners and seventh graders were considered completely vaccinated for the 2025-26 school year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). While the coverage rate for hepatitis, polio, and chickenpox was high, rates for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis vaccines dipped.
The share of kindergartners vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is required by Texas public schools, increased slightly – 0.06% – to 93.30% in the 2025-26 school year. However, the share of seventh graders vaccinated with the MMR vaccine declined by 0.12% in the same time frame.
DSHS also provides a list of flu vaccines now available for the upcoming school year online. TMA advocates for efforts by school districts or health departments to offer influenza vaccine clinics in school-based settings and the importance of yearly vaccinations.
Physicians, medical students, and others who participated in the TMA/TMAF grants in 2025 have enjoyed tremendous success.
Lirios Pediatrics in Austin is a free clinic serving uninsured children. Powered by 84 volunteers who act as front desk workers, interpreters, and clinical assistants, Lirios saw 1,725 children and provided 4,305 routine childhood vaccinations in 2025.
Clinic organizers found that increasing access to vaccines does not always translate into higher vaccination rates. However, families were more receptive to vaccinations when they had an opportunity to discuss questions with a health care provider.
“While our dedicated vaccine clinics successfully reduced scheduling and transportation barriers, we observed a rise in vaccine hesitancy among parents and caregivers,” operations manager Megan DeVaney said. “This reinforced the importance of combining access initiatives with ongoing education and outreach efforts.”
The Lubbock County Medical Society partnered with Lubbock Public Health to offer vaccines in conjunction with Carpenter’s Kitchen, which feeds and cares for the area’s unhoused population.
“We had 19 people vaccinated and that was double from the year before,” said Janice Stachowiak, MD, a Lubbock internist and TMA Alliance representative on TMA’s Council on Medical Education. In October, the society will move vaccine activities to Lubbock’s First Baptist Church in the hopes of increasing traffic.
Students at UT Southwestern Medical School have organized vaccine education and administration for adults at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand Clinic in the West Dallas and Oak Cliff neighborhoods since 2021.
Expanded vaccine training outside regular clinic hours made a huge difference in the number of medical student volunteers and strengthened the clinic’s working partnership with the Dallas campus of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy campus.
Being able to understand a patient’s background and worries is critical to making a connection, says UT Southwestern medical student Naitra Ramchander. “It’s been really helpful to just understand people’s goals for their own health.”
For more information about grant application deadlines, please see TMA’s Vaccines Defend What Matters information online.