NEW YEAR SALE! Only 25¢Fresh Start. Full Access. Sale Ends Jan. 20 | Cancel Anytime |
How chickenpox, measles and others diseases could surge under RFK, Jr.
I was recently at a playground with my children when I met the mom of a 4-year-old girl. We talked about our kids, motherhood and schools.
Then the topic turned to vaccines. She shared that she was having a hard time getting her daughter enrolled in kindergarten in public school because the child wasn't vaccinated. Texas public schools require students to be vaccinated against certain diseases unless there is a valid exception.
She didn't trust vaccines. It's understandable to be cautious about anything we put into our bodies, but vaccines have saved lives.
As President-elect Donald Trump takes office with anti-vaccination advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump's nominee for the secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, we could see those childhood illnesses make an unfortunate comeback. My latest column.
Do you have a story to share or know of one that needs to be told? Share it with us here.
 | Joy Sewing, Columnist |
Worth your time
Photo by: Raquel Natalicchio, Staff Photographer
After decades of growth, Sugar Land and some of Houston's largest suburbs are losing residents
Sugar Land has grown from a small town of a few thousand to a mid-sized city of more than 100,000 people in a matter of decades.
But as Chronicle writer Sam Gonzales Kelly reports the city's population has dropped by nearly 10,000 residents, a loss of more than 8% of its population, since 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The decline isn't just happening in Sugar Land.
Mail Bag
On my latest column about vaccines and their future under the Trump administration, here is a letter from a reader:
"Bless you for your column on immunizations and their importance! As a pediatrician, this has been a daily struggle for years to keep kids up on their vaccines in the face of the misinformation foisted on the public by Kennedy and the rest of the 'Disinformation Dozen!' - M.M.
Highlighting Houston
|
|
|
Storylines we're watching
Political read: Houston leaders react to Trump's mass deportation immigration plan (Houston Chronicle)
Texas read: Are Supper Clubs Helping the Allegedly Lonely Adults of Texas? (Texas Monthly)
National read: Trump's Next Attacks on Abortion Rights Will Be More Insidious Than a Ban (Mother Jones)
|
Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences
Houston Chronicle
4747 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77027
© 2025 Hearst Newspapers, LLC
