WV families are already using religious exemptions allowed under Morrisey order, officials say
Since Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order to allow religious exemptions for vaccines in January, the state has received 186 requests for exemptions. The West Virginia Department of Health said all 186 requests have been approved. (Getty Images)
More than 180 religious or philosophical exemptions to the state's school immunization requirements have been requested in the approximately two months since Gov. Patrick Morrisey's executive order, and all of the requests have been approved, health officials say.
The West Virginia Department of Health released the number of exemptions approved this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from West Virginia Watch. The response included the number of requests, but no identifying information about the nature of the requests.
Morrisey issued an executive order Jan. 14 directing the state, through the 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act, to allow religious exemptions to the state's vaccine requirements. The department said 186 exemptions have been made and approved between then and Monday.
All states require school children to be vaccinated against a number of infectious diseases, including measles, polio and chicken pox. Until January, West Virginia was among only five that did not allow religious or philosophical exemptions to those requirements. West Virginia state code currently allows only exemptions for children who have a medical reason, such as an allergy or a previous severe reaction to a vaccine.
Morrisey's executive order also directed the state health officer, a position that's currently not filled, to come up with rules and legislation to facilitate religious exemptions.
The state House of Delegates on Monday rejected Senate Bill 460, a bill Morrisey requested that would have established those religious exemptions in state code.
Morrisey said Monday he would not rescind the order, setting up a potential clash between the state's executive and legislative branches. The Department of Health said it would continue to abide by Morrisey's order, despite the Legislature rejecting the bill.
The Senate easily passed Senate Bill 460 last month with a vote of 20 to 12. In the House, the Health Committee had pared down the legislation, aiming to change the medical exemption process only. The religious exemptions were added back into the bill on the House floor last week.
During an interview with HD Media's Outside the Echo Chamber this week, House Health Committee Chair Evan Worrell, R-Cabell said that Senate Bill 460 is dead, but that lawmakers could continue to have conversations about whether to change the medical exemption process for vaccines.
'I think ultimately some people had a lot of consternation around the religious exemption, that you could just write a letter and you could have that exemption,' Worrell said. 'I personally believe that we should be able to do that, but that's just my vote and that's why we have this debate.'
The 186 exemptions represent a minuscule portion of the state's school age population, estimated to be about 250,000. But it's more than three times the 53 medical exemptions requested in 2023, according to a report from the state Department of Health.
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