The Senate Education Committee has laid over a bill that would provide exemptions to mandatory immunizations.
The bill, SB 537, would allow exemptions for medical or religious purposes.
Dr. Sherri Young, state immunization officer for West Virginia, said there were 58 exemption requests made last year for medical purposes; 50% of which were permanently granted, 36.6% temporarily granted, 6.7% denied and 6.7% withdrawn.
Aside from West Virginia, Mississippi and California are the only other states that do not allow religious exemptions, and Young said the Department of Health and Human Resources feels the current statute works best for the state.
Overall, new students to private or public schools are required to have seven vaccines before entering school, which has resulted in West Virginia’s 97% immunization rate.
Senator Ron Stollings, D-Boone, said without those immunizations having been mandated, the state wouldn’t have nearly as many people protected from disease.
“It’s a fantastic thing in public health that we’ve been able to manage this vastly potent immune system,” Stollings said.
Young went on to mention that no scientific studies have shown that vaccines are linked to autism causes. She also stated that she did not know of any religious organizations that are against or exempt from vaccines currently.
Dr. Lisa Costello of the West Virginia Academy of Pediatricians said vaccines are the “crown achievements” of public health and should still be mandated for all students, with the exception of those with certain medical constraints.
“Vaccines are safe. Vaccines are effective. And vaccines work,” Costello said.
Costello verified that pediatricians and doctors do not recieve any financial incentives to advocate for immunizations. She also said vaccines themselves are “one of the most cost-effective public health methods ever introduced.”
Senator Robert Karnes, R-Upshur, said he understood that vaccines are effective, but he still believes citizens should be able to have a choice of whether or not their children will receive certain immunizations.
Stollings and Costello then explained how the immunization of children contributes to a “herding effect” that protects those children who are unable to be vaccinated but are especially vulnerable to the diseases mandated vaccines prevent.
Senator John Unger, D-Berkeley, said the bill would need to have some sort of definition for religious beliefs that qualify for the provisions of the bill.
Shanda Adkins of the West Virginians for Health Freedom grassroots organization spoke in support of the bills passage and said that she and many other West Virginians are concerned about what is actually being put in vaccines.
Adkins said that she personally had been poorly affected by the Hepatitis vaccine, which she said made her go blind in her left eye and caused her to eventually contract multiple sclerosis.
At this point, Senator Kenny Mann, R-Monroe, Chair decided to lay over due to meeting time constraints.
The committee will next meet 2 p.m. Thursday, March 16, in room 451M.
