GOP Governor Announces State Will Restore Religious Exemptions To Vaccines

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced the state will change its policy of not allowing religious or conscientious exemptions to vaccines.

“We’re going to be implementing the Equal Protection for Religion Act and we’re ensuring that the current policy, which does not recognize a religious and conscientious exemption for vaccines, that is being changed,” Morrisey said.

“We are directing the Office of Public Health to set up a process to recognize these differences,” he continued.

“We believe that the Equal Protection for Religion Act strongly argues in favor of religious and conscientious exemptions. West Virginia right now is an outlier. There are only several states that don’t recognize religious exemption. Today that changes,” he added.

WATCH:

HUGE WIN! West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey Reinstates Its Religious Exemptions for
Vaccines pic.twitter.com/vr0Fmx0G7S

— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 14, 2025

From the Associated Press:

The vaccine executive order upends a school vaccination policy long heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for kids. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations.

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West Virginia is also part of a tiny minority of U.S. states that only allows medical exemptions for vaccinations.

The move also represents a radical departure from the stance of former West Virginia governor and current Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, who last year vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements.

At the time, Justice, who is a girl’s public school basketball coach and became known across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic for his pro-vaccine stance, said he had to defer to the licensed medical professionals who “overwhelmingly” spoke out in opposition to the legislation.

A faction of the Republican-controlled Legislature has tried for years to no avail to expand exemptions to the state’s school vaccination laws.

Morrisey, who served as West Virginia’s attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor Monday, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted under a 2023 law passed by the state Legislature called the Equal Protection for Religion Act.

“West Virginia now has a religious and moral school vaccine exemption! Another state down. Four to go,” Aaron Siri commented.

West Virginia now has a religious and moral school vaccine exemption! Another state down. Four to go.https://t.co/z8IjzyeHrw

— Aaron Siri (@AaronSiriSG) January 15, 2025

“West Virginia’s new governor, Governor Patrick Morrisey, signed an Executive Order on January 14, 2025, formally providing the right to religious exemptions from mandatory vaccines for school children in his state—a historic feat following two ICAN-funded litigations,” ICAN (Informed Consent Action Network) wrote.

“West Virginia now joins the other 45 states that recognize Americans’ inherent religious freedom!” it added.

BREAKING: West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order allowing for religious exemptions from mandatory school vaccinations.

We are moving in the right direction.

Who here supports this decision?

— Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) January 16, 2025

Per ICAN:

Just 24 hours after his inauguration, Governor Morrisey issued an Executive Order providing a process for students to request religious or moral exemptions to the vaccines mandated for attendance at state schools or state-regulated childcare centers.

The Executive Order provides guidance on West Virginia’s “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” signed into law in 2023, which mirrors the First Amendment and provides that the state may not “burden a person’s exercise of freedom of religion.” The recent Executive Order now expands upon the Act, recognizing that West Virginians do have the First Amendment right to object to vaccines on religious or moral grounds, and directs that a process be implemented to request an exemption. If this sounds familiar, that is because it is similar to what the court in Mississippi held after ICAN brought suit there and was able to restore religious exemptions in that state.

On the heels of restoring the religious exemption to students in Mississippi, ICAN’s attorneys, funded by ICAN, filed two lawsuits on behalf of West Virginia parents seeking to obtain religious exemptions to vaccination for their school children. Although both are still in active litigation, both have already had early successes. In one case, ICAN’s attorneys recently won out against the state’s attempts to get the case diverted to state court. In the other, ICAN’s attorneys won a preliminary injunction that allowed a religious couple to continue sending their young unvaccinated child to her remote school. Absurdly, West Virginia challenged her attendance even though her schooling program was exclusively online. The Executive Order recognized these instances, stating that “the compulsory immunization law [was] still being used to bar West Virginians with religious [] objections to vaccines from sending their children to state schools.”

Watch the full press conference:

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

View the original article here.