内容摘要：Neither the Justice Department nor Trump’s 2024 campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita responded to requests for comment.

Neither the Justice Department nor Trump’s 2024 campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita responded to requests for comment.

, polio and hepatitis A and B.Supporters say the bill streamlines an already legal exemption process that allows families to avoid vaccines for reasons of conscience, religious beliefs or medical reasons. It would let them download the required forms from a website instead of contacting state health officials and waiting for one to come in the mail.

The bill does not change which vaccines are required. However, critics say easing the exemption process opens a door to further outbreaks with potentially deadly results.“If this bill becomes law, Texas is likely to see more illness, more death and higher health care costs for families and business,” Rekha Lakshmanan, chief strategy officer for Texas-based nonprofit Immunization Project, told state senators before the bill won final approval.“The outbreak (in Texas) is not a coincidence. It is the canary in the coal mine screaming at the top of its lungs,” she said.

The exemption bill — as well as other bills passed by the Texas House on lawsuits against vaccine makers and removing immunization restrictions on organ transplants — are a snapshot of efforts across dozens of conservative states to question vaccines or roll back requirements.At the national level, this wave has been buoyed by still-lingering pushback from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration’s embrace of

, who was one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine advocates before being appointed secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

shows U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates have dipped since the pandemic — 92.7% in theMore than 2 billion people around the world don’t have access to safely managed drinking water, according to the United Nations, a grim reality experienced in so many places. In Brazil, some residents collected water as it came down a mountain, while in India others filled up jugs from a street drain. Drinking from such sources can lead to many waterborne illnesses.

A resident fills his water tank at the Pamplona Alta hilltop neighborhood in Lima, Peru, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)A resident fills his water tank at the Pamplona Alta hilltop neighborhood in Lima, Peru, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Residents collect drinking water that falls naturally down a mountain in the Rocinha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)Residents collect drinking water that falls naturally down a mountain in the Rocinha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)