West Virginia approves bill to roll back child vaccination laws
Republican-controlled state Legislature votes to allow exemptions for some students.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s GOP-controlled Legislature voted Saturday to allow some students who don’t attend traditional public schools to be exempt from state vaccination requirements that have long been held up as among the strongest in the country.
The bill was approved despite the objections of state Sen. Mike Maroney, a Republican and a doctor who is chair of the Health and Human Resources Committee. He called the bill “an embarrassment” and said he believed lawmakers were harming the state.
“I took an oath to do no harm. There’s zero chance I can vote for this bill,” Maroney said before the legislation passed the Senate in a vote of 18 to 12.
The House approved a version of the bill in February and swiftly approved the Senate bill 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. “It’s an embarrassment for me to be a part of it; it should be an embarrassment to everybody.”
West Virginia, which has some of the lowest life expectancy rates in the U.S. and where a quarter of children live in poverty, is one of 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 the citation of religious beliefs for exemptions from state-mandated vaccinations children must receive before attending day care or school.
The vaccine bill in West Virginia, which now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, allows virtual public school students to be exempt and enables private and parochial schools to institute their own policies on exemption.
All students participating in West Virginia school activities that result in competition, including sports, still need to be vaccinated.
The bill stipulates that parents can’t sue private schools and school owners, administrators, boards or staffers for deciding whether to allow exemptions, as long as families receive a notice acknowledging the policy each year and upon enrollment.
“I personally do not urge passage, but your Health Committee urged passage of this bill,” Maroney said before introducing the bill in the Senate.
The bill’s original intent, as introduced in the state House of Delegates, was to eliminate vaccine requirements for students in public virtual schools. It was expanded in a House committee to allow private schools to set their own vaccination standards, unless a student participates in sanctioned athletics.
The bill also created a religious exemption for any child whose guardians present a letter declining vaccination for religious reasons. That was removed from the Senate version.
During the Senate Health Committee meeting last week, West Virginia University School of Medicine professor Dr. Alvin Moss argued for the bill, saying the state’s compulsory vaccination policy is medically unethical because it doesn’t allow informed consent. The number of parents who don’t want their children to receive vaccinations is growing, Moss said.
Former West Virginia Republican Delegate Chanda Adkins, a member of West Virginians for Health Freedom, said during the meeting that religious families who don’t want to vaccinate their children deserve to be able to live by their convictions.
Former West Virginia Medical Assn. Dr. Lisa Costello disagreed, saying the state’s vaccine policy is the “gold standard.”
“West Virginia is seen as a national leader when it comes to our routine child immunizations,” she said. “Measles does not care if you go to private school or public school. Measles does not differentiate depending on where you go to school.”
West Virginia law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough, unless they receive a medical exemption. West Virginia does not require COVID-19 vaccinations.