West Virginia House passes bill to allow religious exemptions for student vaccines

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia would join 45 other states that allow religious exemptions from childhood vaccines required for school attendance under a bill that passed the House of Delegates on Monday.

The religious exemption is included in a bill that would let private schools decide whether to implement vaccine mandates. It was added to the bill as an amendment that passed on Friday. The overall bill was approved Monday on a 57-41 vote and now goes to the state Senate, where its chances of passage are uncertain. But the Senate will have to act quickly: the 60-day regular session ends on March 9.

Some medical experts in West Virginia, one of the unhealthiest states in the nation among adults, called the bill archaic.

“Legislators want to turn the clock back nearly 100 years and remove some of the safeguards in our vaccination policies,” said Dr. Steven Eshenaur, the health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston health department. “It escapes sound reasoning why anyone would want to weaken childhood immunization laws. Our children are more important than any agenda that would bring these horrific diseases back to the Mountain State.”

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