West Virginia Senate approves bill allowing religious and philosophical school vaccine exemptions

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate on Feb. 20 passed an engrossed committee substitute for Senate Bill 460, which would permit religious and philosophical exemptions to the state's current mandatory school immunization requirements and revise the medical-exemption process. The measure passed on a recorded vote of 20 yays, 12 nays and 2 absent.

Supporters in the Senate said the bill restores religious freedom and addresses problems they said exist in the current medical-exemption process. The bill would allow a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner to provide a written statement to a school or state-regulated childcare center that a specific immunization is or may be detrimental to a child's health or is not appropriate. It also removes the position of the state immunization officer from the existing medical-exemption pathway and includes provisions barring schools or childcare centers from excluding an individual exercising an exemption from extracurricular activities or school events. The bill adds an…