West Virginia Senate passes religious vaccination exemptions

Lawmakers on Friday voted 20-12 to pass a bill allowing students to skip mandatory vaccines for religious or philosophical reasons. If adopted, the state will grant exemptions based on annual written requests from students’ parents or guardians. The bill also directs public, private, and parochial schools to generate yearly, publicly available reports on the number of their students receiving exemptions. The measure will next be referred to the state House of Delegates.

Local news reported several Republican and Democrat senators argued the change would unconstitutionally force religious schools to revise their vaccination requirements.

What are West Virginia’s current vaccination rules? West Virginia has some of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the United States. Children entering school for the first time must show proof of diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B immunizations. Medical exemptions are allowed, but only if recommended by a physician and approved by the state’s Bureau for Public Health.