State Legislature Approves Exemption For Childhood Vaccine Requirements

West Virginia’s GOP-led state legislature approved a bill that allows some students who don’t attend regular public schools to be exempt from state vaccination requirements.

The Associated Press reports that West Virginia has long held one of the country’s strictest K-12 vaccination requirements.

“Yesterday, a bill that exempts private and parochial schools from the state’s childhood vaccine mandates passed in West Virginia and is expected to become law,” Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) wrote in a press release.

BREAKING: WEST VIRGINIA WILL NOW HAVE AN EXEMPTION TO ITS K-12 SCHOOL VACCINE MANDATEShttps://t.co/J2Zx4I9JT6

— ICAN – Informed Consent Action Network (@ICANdecide) March 12, 2024

From ICAN:

ICAN is pleased to announce that West Virginia private and parochial schools will now be able to offer an exemption to the state’s vaccine mandate for school children! ICAN recently supported a monumental lawsuit in Mississippi that restored a religious exemption for all elementary and secondary schools in that state. It then supported a lawsuit in West Virginia to do the same that is still ongoing but is already clearly having an impact. Rest assured, ICAN does not intend to stop until public school students in West Virginia also have an exemption available to them and ICAN will continue its legal efforts in the other four remaining states that do not yet have a non-medical exemption. Thank you for supporting this groundbreaking and critical work!

The West Virginia House of Delegates passed HB 5105 last month and eliminated school vaccine requirements for those who claim religious exemptions for some schools.

Per ABC News:

Last week, the House began considering the bill, known as HB 5105, which proposed eliminating vaccine requirements for public virtual schools that do not take part in extracurricular activities or sports in public school settings. The bill was then expanded to propose “eliminating the vaccine requirements for students of public virtual schools, private schools, or parochial schools unless the student participates in sanctioned athletic events, and creating a religious exemption from vaccine requirements,” and then further amended to specifically allow vaccine exemptions “any child whose parents or guardians present a letter stating that a child cannot be vaccinated for religious reasons.”

It’s unclear if the religious exemption will apply to students attending in-person public schools.

The bill will now head to the Senate for debate and, if it passes in that chamber, to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice for signing into law.

Prior to this bill, West Virginia had no non-medical vaccine exemptions from school vaccine requirements, either for religious or philosophical beliefs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“A new vaccine bill passed West Virginia’s Senate 18-12, and now awaits Gov. Jim Justice’s approval before it can be signed into law,” The Epoch Times wrote.

West Virginia Legislation Could Allow Private Schools to Decide Their Own Vaccination Policies

A new vaccine bill passed West Virginia’s Senate 18-12, and now awaits Gov. Jim Justice’s approval before it can be signed into law.https://t.co/oZPYrpY5cM

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) March 11, 2024

“The bill was approved despite the objections of Republican Senate Health and Human Resources Chair Mike Maroney,” the Associated Press noted.

Maroney, a trained doctor, called the bill “an embarrassment” and reportedly said lawmakers were harming the state.

“West Virginia private/parochial schools will now be able to exempt students from the state’s vaccine mandates! Our lawsuit in Mississippi restoring a religious exemption for all students and our ongoing West Virginia lawsuit seeking same is clearly having an impact. We don’t intend to stop until all students, in West Virginia and the four remaining states, are also free!” Aaron Siri wrote.

West Virginia private/parochial schools will now be able to exempt students from the state’s vaccine mandates! Our lawsuit in Mississippi restoring a religious exemption for all students and our ongoing West Virgnia lawsuit seeking same is clearly having an impact. We don’t…

— Aaron Siri (@AaronSiriSG) March 10, 2024

From the Associated Press:

“I took an oath to do no harm. There’s zero chance I can vote for this bill,” Maroney said before the bill passed the Senate 18-12. The House already approved a version of the bill in February and swiftly approved the Senate bill on Saturday, the last day of the state’s 60-day legislative session.

“It’s a bad bill for West Virginia, it’s a step backward. There’s no question, no question there will be negative effects,” Maroney said. He added, “It’s an embarrassment for me to be a part of it, it should be an embarrassment to everybody.”

West Virginia, with some of the lowest life expectancy rates in the U.S. and a quarter of all children living in poverty, is one of only two states, along with California, that don’t permit nonmedical exemptions to vaccinations as a condition for school entry.

Mississippi had the same policy until July, when a judge allowed people to start citing religious beliefs to seek exemptions from state-mandated vaccinations that children must receive before attending day care or school.

The new proposed vaccine law in West Virginia, which now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, allows virtual public school students to be exempt and for private and parochial schools to institute their own policies either exempting students or not.

All students participating in West Virginia school activities that result in competition, including but not limited to sports, still need to be vaccinated.

Read HB 5105 HERE.