West Virginian officials have upheld a policy that allows parents to issue religious exemptions to school-mandated vaccines. Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble issued a permanent injunction on a lawsuit filed earlier this year, allowing students refusing to comply with the vaccine mandates to attend class and extracurricular activities.
The ruling mandates that the state’s Board of Education align policies with the Equal Protection for Religious Protection Act of 2023, which permits children with religious exemptions to attend school.
In response to the ruling, the West Virginia Board of Education announced that it suspended the “policy on compulsory vaccination requirements as outlined in W. Va. Code 16-3-4, pending further proceedings on the issue before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.”
Governor Patrick Morrisey (R) celebrated the ruling, calling it “a win for every family forced from school over their faith. I will always take a stand for religious liberty and for the children of this state. I applaud the court for upholding West Virginia’s Equal Protection for Religion Act.”
“Now is the time for the legislature to act. I am calling on every lawmaker to step forward and solidify this freedom for every West Virginian,” Morrisey added.
According to Morrisey’s January executive order allowing for religious exemptions to vaccines, the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health and the State Health Officer are to “establish a process for objections to compulsory school immunization from persons who desire to send their children to a state school or state-regulated child care center but object on religious or conscientious grounds to one or more vaccine required by the compulsory immunization law.”
“Forcing those West Virginians to vaccinate their children despite their religious and moral objections substantially burdens the free exercise of religion in violation of the inherent religious liberties guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States and West Virginia,” the order says.
