By Shalina Chatlani, Stateline.org

Louisiana Republican state Rep. Kathy Edmonston believes no one ought to be required to vaccinate their children. So, she wants schools to proactively tell parents that it’s their right under Louisiana law to seek an exemption.

“It’s not the vaccine itself, it is the mandate,” Edmonston told Stateline. “The law is the law. And it already says you can opt out if you don’t want it. If you do want it, you can go anywhere and get it.”

Although Louisiana scores among the bottom states in most health indicators, nearly 90% of kindergarten children statewide have complete vaccination records, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Health from last school year. That’s even as Louisiana maintains some of the broadest exemptions for personal, religious and moral reasons. The state only requires a written notice from parents to schools.

Edmonston, a Republican, has sponsored legislation that would require schools to provide parents with information about the exemptions. The bill is intended to ensure parents aren’t denied medically necessary information, she said.

Vaccines protect not only the patient, but also those around them. Science has shown that a population can reach community immunity, also known as herd immunity, once a certain percentage of the group is vaccinated. That herd immunity can protect people who can’t get vaccinated, such as those with weakened immune systems or serious allergies, by reducing their chances of infection. In the past few years, however, COVID-19 vaccines have terrified some people who oppose requirements to get the shot, even though research shows the vaccines are far safer than getting the disease.

Some lawmakers across the country are working to sidestep vaccine mandates, not just for COVID-19, but also for measles, polio and meningitis. Public health experts worry the renewed opposition to childhood immunizations will reverse state gains in vaccination rates. Meanwhile, cases of some diseases, including measles, have increased across the country.

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Edmonston’s bill is one of dozens this session that aim to relax vaccine requirements, according to a database maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan research organization that serves lawmakers and their staffs. Most of the bills have either died in committee or failed to advance, but a few have become law.

Idaho enacted a law, effective in July, that allows students “of majority age” — 18 in Idaho — to submit their own immunization waivers to schools and universities, both public and private. And Tennessee passed a law, which took effect in April, that prohibits the state from requiring immunizations as a condition of either adoption or foster care if the family taking in a child has a religious or moral objection to vaccines.

“Conservatives have really moved towards that medical freedom position of where people need to be really educated about whatever vaccine that they are taking,” said Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson, who sponsored his state’s legislation.

“I think the public health community has really lost credibility during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Watson, a Republican. “And they’re going to have to work really hard to restore some of that credibility.”

Other bills that would have allowed some exemptions passed legislatures but were stopped short by governors.

In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice vetoed legislation that would have allowed full-time virtual public school students, along with private and parochial schools, to avoid mandatory vaccine requirements. Justice said in his veto message that he “heard constant, strong opposition to this legislation from our State’s medical community.”

Similarly, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation that would have required public colleges and universities to allow immunization waivers for health, religious or personal reasons.

Edmonston said she’s tried before with her legislation in Louisiana; it either died or got vetoed by former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. But now, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in charge, Edmonston is confident the bill will get signed into law. It’s already passed the House and is being debated in the Senate.

Both she and Watson said the push to relax requirements or create broader exemptions for immunizations is not tied to vaccines themselves. The debate tends to be centered around what many conservatives call an overreach of government.

“We’re against the government telling us what to do with our own bodies,” Edmonston said.

Greater momentum after COVID-19

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends numerous vaccinations for infants as a standard regimen. And shots protecting against measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox and hepatitis B, among others, are typically required to attend K-12 schools. States set their own requirements and exemptions, however, and there are variations.

Pushback against vaccine mandates goes back more than a century to the early 1900s, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court in 1905 ruled that states could require parents to vaccinate their children, according to Simon Haeder, an associate professor of public health at Texas A&M University, who has been tracking vaccine hesitancy for several years.

Although the opposition tends to exist mostly along partisan lines, with Republicans more likely to support vaccine exemptions, Haeder noted that far-left groups — which may tend to be skeptical of medicines in general — also support the loosening of vaccination requirements.

“The scientific skepticism and opposition to state interference and the partisan nature of this issue has really escalated, starting during the COVID years,” Haeder told Stateline.

“It’s very hard for states right now wanting to increase vaccination requirements,” he said.

Among kindergartners, national coverage dropped from about 95% for all vaccines in the 2019-20 school year to about 93% for all vaccines in both the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, according to the CDC.

Nonmedical exemptions account for more than 90% of all approved vaccination exemptions and are allowed in all but five states. Exemptions increased from 2.2% among kindergartners in the 2019-2020 school year to 3% in 2022-2023, and 10 states reported that more than 5% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one vaccine.

Jennifer Herricks, a microbiologist and founder of Louisiana Families for Vaccines, an advocacy organization in support of vaccines, has been tracking efforts to relax vaccine mandates since 2015.

“I became a mom. And then it became even more personal for me, especially having those little infants who are too young to get a lot of the vaccines,” Herricks said. “And then you realize that they are vulnerable to these diseases and that they are depending on the people around them to be vaccinated so that they don’t get sick.”

But Jill Hines, co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana, a group that opposes vaccine mandates, said some parents just want the chance to opt out.

“Believe it or not, my children are fully vaccinated. We were never informed of the state’s exemption law,” Hines told Stateline. She added that some in her group feel that vaccine reporting requirements are an invasion of privacy.

“We should not be denied access to society, access to a job, access to an education, simply because we’ve refused medical intervention,” she said.

Growing concern among health professionals

Mississippi, which sits near the bottom of state rankings on most health indicators such as obesity and heart disease, hasn’t had a measles case since 1992.

“We have pushed back all the potentially fatal childhood infections from being commonplace in Mississippi to being extremely rare,” Edney, the state health officer, said in an interview.

Immunizations against childhood diseases have been required by state law since 1979 for entry into K-12 schools and day care centers. The mandate has helped Mississippi lead the nation with some of the highest rates of childhood vaccinations, including a vaccination rate of nearly 99% among kindergarteners.

But last year, a federal judge ordered Mississippi to begin accepting religious exemptions after an interest group, Texas-based Informed Consent Action Network, sued the state in federal court. Since then, thousands of exemption requests have poured in.

Mississippi is approaching the approval of more than 2,800 religious exemptions, Edney said. He expects other states also will see more exemptions as lawmakers elsewhere find success with legislation to relax vaccine mandates or increase requirements on opt-out information.

“If you’re going to be against good, sound childhood vaccine policy — the vaccinations that have been proven safe and effective for decades — you need to be against clean water and against proper sewage and food protection,” Edney said.

Dr. John Gaudet, a Mississippi pediatrician for about three decades, said he worried the COVID-19 vaccine controversy would spill into the nation’s ongoing childhood vaccine debate.

“I think there was a point where you would go to the doctor, and you would just kind of take it almost as, ‘Well, this is what the doctor recommended,’” he said. “And so there’s now more of a consumer mentality: ‘Well, the doctor may say this, but maybe that doctor is not trustworthy.’”

Across the country, meanwhile, measles has surged, with at least 132 measles cases reported so far this year, according to the CDC. Two-thirds of those cases are among people under the age of 19, and over half of them have resulted in hospitalizations. The cases have spread to 20 states.

But not, so far, to Mississippi.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

DALLAS – A year ago, Anthony Edwards sat silently at his locker after Minnesota went down 3-0 to Denver in the first round and stared into the mirror before eventually getting up and walking out without saying a word.

Two days later, he scored 34 points on the strength of five triples to lead the Timberwolves to a Game 4 victory over the Nuggets.

The win – while the only victory of last year’s playoffs for Minnesota – had meaning to Edwards.

“I don’t ever want to say I got swept in my career,” Edwards said.

Mike Conley sat at his locker after Minnesota’s dramatic Western Conference semifinals, Game 7 victory in Denver and was asked, “What’s next?”

Conley secured his first career playoff sweep in Round 1 against Phoenix. He notched his first Game 7 victory in Denver. Surely, there was another box to check on the horizon.

The veteran point guard’s answer: “Win a conference finals game.”

Conley’s goals are certainly higher than that – the 36-year-old yearns to win a title before he hangs up his sneakers. But it’s well documented by now that this is Conley’s second conference finals appearance – and first since 2013. And the Grizzlies were swept by San Antonio that season.

An identical exit would likely hit a little harder 11 years later.

No NBA team has ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-7 series in 154 tries – and both the Wolves and Indiana Pacers find themselves in such a hole. So no, it’s not likely Minnesota will reel off four-straight victories to reach the franchise’s first NBA Finals. Though, hey, who knows?

But just nabbing a win Tuesday in Game 4 would mean something. It would mean no sweep of Edwards. It would mean another small career achievement for Conley. It would also mean Minnesota gets to fight another day.

That’s the Wolves’ plan.

“I just told them to keep fighting. We fight. We’ve been fighting all series, and we’re not going to stop fighting,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “We’ll look at it, we’ll build it back up and we’ll be ready to go on Tuesday, and see what happens from there.”

It’s true, the Wolves have been resilient all year. When a player went down, another stepped up. When a deficit grew, the Wolves responded and rallied.

Lest we forget the defending NBA champions led Minnesota – at home – by 20 points in the second half of a Game 7, and the Wolves still won.

Perhaps the team that has routinely set new franchise marks will achieve an NBA first, as well.

One thing is for sure – if the Wolves go down, it will be swinging.

“If (there’s) a team that can do it, I think it’s us. We’re built to do that,” Wolves forward Naz Reid said. “Everybody still got their heads up. You don’t want to go down 0-3, but it’s part of life. We’re not going to hang our head about it. We’re going to go out there and fix it.”

It’s worth a try.

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“We ain’t got nothing else to do,” Edwards said. “We can’t do nothing but be positive at this point. We can’t be negative. Just try to get it one win at a time.”

DALLAS – Karl-Anthony Towns had seemingly bested his postseason demons through the first two rounds of this year’s playoffs.

Sure, there were a few offensive clunkers mixed in, but in general the all-star big man was great on defense – where he took on marquee matchups – and on the glass and delivered offensively when needed.

He helped slam the door on Phoenix in Game 4. He shot 51 percent from the floor and 39 percent from deep against Denver.

After his fair share of past playoff struggles, Towns had apparently found a comfort level on the sport’s biggest, brightest stages.

But the Western Conference Finals have told a different story. Through three games – all Wolves’ losses – Towns is shooting 28 percent from the field and 14 percent from 3-point range. His offensive struggles bottomed out in Game 3 on Sunday, when the big man went 0 for 8 from 3-point range.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch admitted it was “hard to watch” Towns struggle at times Sunday.

“He had enough buckets here and there. Defensively, in the second half, I was really pleased with the way he played, rebounding pretty well,” Finch said. “But yeah, he’s struggling. There’s no doubt in that right now.”

Finch felt Towns was rushing his shots earlier in the series. He didn’t think that was the case Sunday. Which makes the results all the more inexplicable. One of the NBA’s premiere 3-point shooters missed the rim on multiple good looks from beyond the arc.

“He had a couple good looks and needed those to go down, particularly earlier in the game,” Finch said.

And Towns assumed they would.

“I feel every shot’s good. I’ve shot a lot of basketballs in my life. I’m the first one in the gym. I definitely am working. I’m shooting. Every time I’m shooting, it feels good,” Towns said. “I’m just having these very unfortunate bounces all the time. It’s annoying. The last game, first shot of the game goes in-out, in-out, in-out. This game, my first shot is a free throw and it goes in-out. I don’t mean to smile, but I’ve just got to laugh at it right now. It’s very disappointing.”

Towns said his confidence level remains “extremely high.” He noted he’s putting up “1,500 shots a day” – a fact the Inside the NBA crew vehemently disputed after Game 3.

Regardless, Towns has a large body of work upon which he can rely to know future shots will fall. Wolves forward Kyle Anderson agreed 3-point shots will go down for Towns. But there are certainly other ways he can get himself going in the meantime. That was evident in the third quarter on Sunday, when – after Dallas big Dereck Lively left the game due to injury – Towns started to go downhill aggressively in an effort to attack the rack.

“Put me in spots where I was getting the ball in the mid-post, Dallas action,” Towns said, “and I was utilizing that one-two step to the basket for my advantage.”

Perhaps more of that will be required until Towns regains his shooting touch. Because this much is apparent – if Towns can’t find ways to be an offensive contributor, it will be difficult for Minnesota to extend its season. There simply aren’t enough shooters nor offensive creators for Minnesota to survive these major lulls from its all-star big man.

Take the second half Sunday, for example. When Towns was 3 for 4 from the field with nine points in the third frame, the Wolves dropped 35 points in the quarter – its most impressive offensive segment of the series.

When Towns is rolling, it opens up the floor for everyone else – namely, Anthony Edwards.

But, in the fourth, Towns regressed again, going 0 for 4 from the field, and Minnesota scored just 20 points in the quarter en route to another crushing defeat. If Dallas doesn’t have to account for Towns on offense, the floor shrinks in Minnesota in short order.

Towns has shot below 35 percent from the floor in nine of his 30 career playoff games – Minnesota is 0-9 in those contests.

“I think KAT gotta just do a better job of maybe getting back to his old self, of finding himself around the basket more. Rim running, taking advantage of mismatches,” Anderson said. “He’s obviously a really good player, and he’s big time for us, so we need him to get going. So it’s our job to put him in the right position. … But I think if he gets back to rim running and catching the ball on the block and taking his time and going to finish, they got nothing for him. So we just gotta find him, put him in the right situations.”

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DALLAS — Dallas lost its third-best player to injury in the second quarter of Game 3 on Sunday, giving Minnesota a major matchup advantage.

And it didn’t matter.

Because Dallas has the best two players in this series — and that’s not particularly debatable.

With Minnesota holding all the momentum and size advantage heading into the final frame Sunday in Dallas — and the series on the line, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic rose to the occasion.

The tandem hit one massive shot after another, fending off every Minnesota body blow in the process, and putting Minnesota’s season in major peril.

The Wolves trail the Western Conference Finals 3-0 after falling 116-107 in Dallas.

“Credit to them, they hit shots when they’ve got to hit shots,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “For us, we’re just not hitting the shots when we’ve got to. It’s tough. It’s tough, for sure.”

Irving went off for 12 points in the final frame, burying one tough shot after another. Doncic finished with seven points in the fourth, also delivering the game-sealing alley oop to Daniel Gafford for an and-1 to put Dallas up nine with 34 seconds to play.

With two minutes to play, Minnesota seemed to get a potential spark, as the Wolves wrestled away a potential rebound while down four. But all Doncic did then was rip it away from Edwards. A jump ball was called, and Doncic won the tip over Minnesota’s star player.

That defined the series.

Edwards and Towns combined for four points in the final quarter — all to Edwards. His third and fourth points were the product of a meaningless layup as the final seconds ticked off. That was Minnesota’s only field goal over the game’s final five minutes.

When the best is required, Dallas’ best has supplied all of it. Irving and Doncic combined for 66 points.

“They got to their spots, they would rise up (and score),” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “They’re great players. They’re beating us 1 on 1 at the moment.”

Minnesota tried its best to take those two out of the game early with added defensive attention by both blitzing ball screens to get two on the guards, while then also squeezing in off the corner shooters to supply additional help.

That didn’t work, either.

“They threw the ball around and made a lot of great plays and then all the other guys started throwing in threes,” Finch said. “It’s been tough for us to try to navigate that. We’ve been picking our poison here a little bit. And, at times in the game, we do different things.”

And none of them prove to be successful.

Minnesota trailed by 10 early in the second quarter and was getting largely picked apart by Dallas, who’d seemingly solved the puzzle of anything the Wolves could present it.

But then the Mavericks lost a massive, massive chess piece. Rookie center Dereck Lively — who’d helped neutralize Minnesota’s size advantage in the series — was falling to the floor as a missed shot came off the iron. Karl-Anthony Towns crashed in for the rebound and, as he took off, his knee inadvertently mashed into Lively’s head.

The 20-year-old stayed on the floor for a lengthy period and, when he finally did get to his feet, was clearly unstable and had to be helped off the floor.

And everything changed. Minnesota’s offensive aggression jumped through the roof. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns came alive as Dallas’ rim protection dissipated and, with it, the Mavericks’ excellent defense was compromised.

Minnesota took full advantage, scoring 35 points in the third quarter — 19 of which belonged to Edwards and Towns. The game was tied with 12 minutes to play. It looked like the Wolves were primed to get back into the series. In that stretch, the Wolves played quicker, more decisive basketball than they’ve exhibited for most of the series.

But, as they’ve done all series when Minnesota found morsels of success, Dallas adapted and resolved its issues in short order. The Wolves offense devolved back into sticky-ball, slow-paced junk when the game was on the line.

“You play into their hands when you hold the ball and you dribble out the clock and are fighting against the shot clock. That was the issue we had a little bit tonight, where we were looking down 10, 11 seconds left on the shot clock and at that point you have to force it instead of being in an action early, playing a little bit more force going down hill making plays, which we’re capable of doing,” Mike Conley said. “The last couple days, we’ve proved to be more than capable of making these adjustments, making these reads. We gotta want to do it, and we gotta want to do it every single time against a team like this who’s very long, athletic, smart and calculated in what they do.”

And, of course, the Mavericks’ greatest solutions of all are No. 77 and No. 11 — those answers have proven correct every time Minnesota has presented a question.

“We just gotta figure out a way to slow both of them down, and Luka and Kyrie, as well as those other guys. They can’t all play well like that,” Anderson said. “We’re gonna have to pick and choose (who has advantageous matchups). That’s what we’re gonna do in Game 4.”