After over an hour of floor debate Friday, the Senate passed SB460, which which would allow religious and philosophical exemptions to the state’s school vaccination requirements.
The legislation would allow parents and guardians to object to the requirements of the state’s program for compulsory immunization of public and private school children by citing a religious or philosophical belief. The bill allows children to continue to participate in extracurricular activities, and allows for civil suits against schools that discriminate against these students.
Under the bill, the protocol for exemption requires the parent or legal guardian to provide an annual written statement to the administrator of the child’s school or child care center explaining that the mandatory vaccination requirements cannot be met because it conflicts with the religious or philosophical beliefs of the parent, legal guardian, or emancipated child.
Current West Virginia law requires children attending school in the state to show proof of immunization for pertussis, tetanus, polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B unless proof of a medical exemption can be shown. Current law only allows for very narrow medical exemptions to immunizations.
A key piece of the debate on this bill has been about whether private and parochial schools would have to accept the exemptions.
Senator Ryan Weld (R-Brooke) argued against the bill after having an amendment defeated earlier this week that would have allowed private and parochial schools to come up with their own vaccination policy. He said those schools should be allowed to comply with existing West Virginia requirements if they choose.
Senate Health Chairwoman Laura Wakim Chapman (R-Ohio) disagreed, saying current law already applies to private schools, grouping them with all of the other schools that have to abide by vaccine requirements. Therefore, she argued, it is consistent to include them if the current law is changed to require exemptions to be accepted.
Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel (D-Cabell) was against the bill, contending that making religious schools comply with the exemptions will violate the Constitution and prompt a successful lawsuit against the bill.
Senator Patricia Rucker (R-Jefferson) spoke in favor of the bill, citing current West Virginia law that prohibits unvaccinated children from participating in school and activities. She argued that current law is overly burdensome.
Chapman had the final word, making the the case for medical exemptions over religious and philosophical ones.
To that end, the legislation is more lenient on medical exemptions than current law, permitting a child to be exempt when a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner provides a written statement to the school administrator or child care center stating that the specific immunizations could be detrimental to the child’s health or inappropriate.
The legislation passed on a 20-12 vote with two senators absent.
The bill now heads to the House of Delegates for consideration.
The Senate is adjourned until Monday, Feb. 24, at 11 a.m.
The Senate Gov. Org. Committee will meet Monday at 9:30 a.m. in 208W
