Texas is currently facing a problem tweaking a new vaccine mandate that is meant to protect college students against meningitis. The mandate requires all college students under age 30 to get a meningitis shot. However, it has been noticed that the mandate has directly affected many low income students with no health insurance (Statesman). The prices for vaccine ($100-200) have proven to have a negative impact on students who rely on financial aid. It is stated that students cannot receive financial aid if they are not enrolled. In addition, students cannot enroll until they get meningitis shot. Therefore, a possible trend could be observed: if more incoming students enter college and are required to get the shots, then less students wouldn't be able to enroll in school due to short supply of vaccines.
The Texas Legislature should make some specific changes in the new vaccine mandate so that the vaccine practices can generally be applied to students who need it the most. For example, the age range of the mandate is way beyond the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Texas Tribune). Since the meningitis risk is highest up to age 22, the Texas government should reduce the age range from 30 to 22. As a result, it would be expected that the number of students negatively affected by the mandate will decrease by half. Providing meningitis to all incoming students will cost around $7.8 million. If the Texas government were to raise the revenue to provide funding and grants to invest in supplying more vaccines.
The debate over the mandate concerns with both the public health and education, which are the top priorities for Texas. The Texas government needs to maintain the economy for protecting public health. Doing so will also affect education by increasing the number of students entering universities/colleges.
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