For many North Texas students, school starts Monday. And new numbers show that more students will be walking through those doors without their vaccinations.
Parents of 45,000 kids across Texas opted out of vaccinations last school year.
That's up 9 percent from the year before.
In Collin County, that rate is even higher. It's up 14 percent over last year.
State law requires students attending public school to be vaccinated, but Texas is one of 18 states allowing parents to opt out based on personal beliefs.
According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, Frisco ISD is second in the state for students who aren't vaccinated because of a "conscientious exemption."
Plano ISD is sixth, McKinney ISD is 22nd and Allen ISD is 24th.
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"This is not a public health emergency. This is less than 1 percent of all school children," said Rebecca Hardy, with the organization Texans for Vaccine Choice.
Despite an ongoing debate over whether vaccinations help or hurt, she says legally, the choice remains with parents.
"All medical procedures come with risks, and when there's a risk there must be a choice and ultimately it's the parents that are best equipped to make these choices for their children," Hardy said.
Friday, the Collin County Health Care Services was packed with parents waiting to get their kids vaccinated.
"Just so we don't spread any other kinds of diseases and they don't catch anything else from anybody else spreading diseases that are not getting vaccinated," Meadows said.
Health professionals with whom NBC 5 spoke on Friday stressed the importance of immunizations.
Parents requesting an exemption must fill out a form from the state.
