The pastor of a Fort Worth megachurch is celebrating that a school affiliated with his church has the lowest vaccination rate for measles of any school in Texas.
“Shoutout to MC Prep for being the least vaccinated school in Texas!” Landon Schott, pastor of Mercy Culture Church, said in a Wednesday Instagram video.
The Dallas Morning News reached out to Schott via email but did not immediately hear back. Mercy Culture’s media director declined to comment when emailed a list of questions. A representative for Mercy Culture Preparatory also told The News over the phone that the school had no comment.
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Mercy Culture Preparatory, a K-12 private school next to the church, has a 14.3% MMR vaccination rate, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data. MMR stands for measles, mumps and rubella.
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Mercy Culture Preparatory is one of six facilities in North Texas that have less than 50% of its kindergarten population vaccinated — five are private schools, one is a public charter school.
Other churches in D-FW have encouraged their congregants to get vaccines. In 2021, Dallas megachurch The Potter’s House served as a mass vaccination site for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Texas is facing a measles outbreak with nearly 160 cases across the state as of Tuesday, according to state officials. A total of 22 people have been hospitalized and one child, who was not vaccinated, has died.
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“I just want to congratulate all of the family members of MC Prep that embrace freedom of health and they’re not allowing government or science projects to affect how you live and lead your life,” Schott said in the video. “Freedom is something we take seriously — religious freedom, freedom of our health.”
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Texas requires public and private school students to receive two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Parents can apply for an exemption for “reasons of conscience,” including “a religious or personal belief that goes against getting immunized.”
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world and spreads mostly among unvaccinated people. For a community to be protected, enough residents must be vaccinated to provide “herd immunity.”
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For measles, that means 95% of people must be vaccinated for the community to be protected, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials from the Dallas County Health and Human Services urged parents to check children’s immunization records and schedule vaccination if they have not yet received them, according to a notice sent Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Schott posted to X: “Don’t let spiritually unhealthy people tell you how to be healthy!”
Fort Worth’s Mercy Culture celebrates school with lowest measles vaccination rate in Texas
