West Virginia Restores School Vaccine Mandate Amid Legal Battle

The West Virginia Board of Education has reinstated its school vaccination mandate after the state Supreme Court paused a lower court ruling that had allowed parents to claim religious exemptions to vaccines required for school attendance.

Last week, Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble ruled in a class-action lawsuit that children from families objecting to the state’s compulsory vaccination law on religious grounds could attend school and participate in extracurricular activities. The ruling applied to parents who had already obtained exemptions, as well as those seeking exemptions in the future.

However, the state Supreme Court issued a stay on Froble’s decision, halting its implementation while appeals proceed. In response, the Board of Education announced that it is “reinstating its directive to county boards of education not to accept religious exemptions to compulsory vaccination laws,” effective until further guidance from the Supreme Court. The board emphasized that its priority is enforcing compliance with the vaccine law and safeguarding student health across the state.

Previously, the board had suspended the vaccine mandate following Froble’s ruling. The judge’s decision cited the Equal Protection for Religion Act, passed in 2023, which allows families to seek religious exemptions under certain conditions.

West Virginia was one of the few states allowing only medical exemptions for school vaccinations. Earlier this year, Governor Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order permitting religious exemptions. The board subsequently instructed schools to disregard the order, prompting lawsuits from groups arguing that the legislature, not the governor, has the authority to authorize such exemptions.

Judge Froble certified the lawsuit as a class action, covering 570 families who had received religious exemptions and extending to parents seeking exemptions in the future. One plaintiff, Miranda Guzman, had obtained a religious exemption for her child, only to have it later rescinded by a local school superintendent.

West Virginia’s vaccination requirements, considered among the most protective in the U.S., mandate immunizations for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus, and whooping cough before school enrollment.

The case reflects ongoing national debates over religious exemptions to vaccination laws, with at least 30 states maintaining religious freedom laws modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows regulations that interfere with religious beliefs to be challenged.