Schools in West Virginia may no longer prevent unvaccinated children from attending, since a court ruled to allow religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccines.
On November 26, circuit judge Michael Froble issued a permanent injunction against the state’s vaccine requirements. He included both the state and Raleigh County education boards in the decree.
In his 74-page ruling, Froble declared that vaccine requirements violate West Virginia’s Equal Protection for Religion Act of 2023. He pointed out that the boards have not provided proof that unvaccinated children “pose a risk to anyone else,” and noted the hypocrisy that adults in school settings are not required to be vaccinated. Froble claimed solidarity with 45 other states that allow religious exemptions. (Until now, West Virginia had only allowed those for medical reasons.)
In answer to the ruling, the West Virginia Department of Education issued a statement suspending compulsory vaccine requirements “pending further proceedings on the issue before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.”
The department more clearly revealed its stance back in July, when the judge issued a preliminary injunction to three Raleigh County students involved in the lawsuit — an order that allowed only those three to attend school without required vaccinations. At that time, the state Board of Education expressed its disappointment and encouraged families to “comply with West Virginia’s compulsory vaccination laws as required by legislative statute.”
Now that the injunction displaces the statute, Republican Governor Patrick Morrisey is celebrating. “Huge win for religious liberty in West Virginia,” he posted on social media. “Today’s ruling is a win for every family forced from school over their faith.”
Morrisey may well feel justified, as he issued an executive order in January requiring the state to allow religious exemptions. The West Virginia Board of Education instructed county boards to ignore that order, and the state Legislature rejected a vaccine exemption bill in March.
These measures ignore legitimate concerns of parents who know something of the deplorable vaccine injury track record of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current immunization schedule, which includes up to 29 doses of various vaccines by the time a baby is 18 months old, and dozens more by the time he reaches 18 years.
Because many live virus vaccines are developed using cell cultures from aborted babies, families also object for religious reasons.