Mercy Culture pastor Landon Schott, whose Mercy Culture Preparatory Academy has a measles vaccination rate of 14.29%, posted a video on Instagram.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Fort Worth pastor is celebrating his school’s distinction as the least-vaccinated school in Texas.
Mercy Culture pastor Landon Schott, whose Mercy Culture Preparatory Academy has a measles vaccination rate of 14.29%, posted a video on Instagram congratulating Mercy Culture Prep families “that embrace freedom of health.”
“They’re not allowing the government or science projects to affect how you live and lead your life,” Schott said. “I know the entire world was shut down with insanity and people were fired from their jobs for forced vaccinations, and freedom is something we take seriously.”
Schott was post ing the video in front of balloons and as he posed with a t-shirt that declared Mercy Culture Prep as the least-vaccinated school in the state.
Mercy Culture Prep’s vaccination rate — which is required to be reported to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services — drew attention last week amid heightened awareness over a measles outbreak in West Texas.
WFAA’s previous reporting showed that Mercy Culture Prep had the lowest MMR vaccination rate in Texas, at 14.29%, among kindergartners in the 2023-2024 school year. The MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
The next-lowest number for MMR vaccination rate in North Texas was 38.10% at Collin County Cornerstone Christian Academy.
Most North Texas schools and districts have vaccination rates above 75%, and numerous vaccination rates are in the upper 90% range. About 62 North Texas schools had a 100% vaccination rate among kindergartners in the 2023-2024 school year.
“So shoutout to MC Prep for being the least vaccinated school in Texas,” Schott said in his video. “We’ll take it. Or as Mercy Culture says, we celebrate it. We’ll put it on the board.”
While the measles outbreak was mostly limited to West Texas – there was one case confirmed in an adult in North Texas (Rockwall County) – public health officials and doctors warned that vaccination is the best defense against spreading the rare virus.
Measles is “probably the most infectious contagious disease on the planet,” said Dr. Suzanne Whitworth, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth previously told WFAA. “We know that about 40% of kids under the age of five who get measles are gonna wind up in the hospital, and nobody wants that.”
