Charleston, W.Va. (AP) – One state’s efforts to exempt young school-age children from the vaccine appear to be stagnating as the state competes with the burgeoning outbreak of measles. January, West Virginia Republican Governor Patrick Morrissey An executive order has been issued Allow families to apply for religious exemptions for mandatory childhood vaccinations. Measures that have engraved the order in law Sailed through the state Senate Last month, however, on Monday, state lawmakers rejected a bill that dismantled what health professionals widely consider to be one of the nation’s most protective school vaccination policies.
West Virginia is currently one of our smallest few states, saying that if they do so, they will only be exempt from students from being vaccinated.
The bill rejected Monday, allowing private and religious schools to decide whether to accept religious exemptions from students’ families, but the Senate version of the bill would have required schools to accept religious exemptions. Public schools had to accept exemptions based on both versions.
The state Senate also voted in favor of allowing families to opt out of vaccination for philosophical reasons. It does not include justifications that are not included in the House of Representatives measures. West Virginia’s vaccine fight is surged to the forefront of state legislative issues Measles occurrence In West Texas and New Mexico, there are more than 350 cases in total, with at least two unvaccinated people dead from measles-related causes.
The West Virginia bill, rejected by lawmakers on Monday, would have altered the process of families seeking medical waiver by allowing children’s healthcare providers to submit testimony to schools that certain vaccines “may be harmful to the child’s health, or may not be appropriate.”
Opposition forces are rapidly increasing
Those who opposed West Virginia’s narrow vaccine exemptions said they were concerned about the impact on public health. Keith Marple, 81-year-old Harrison County Republican representative, said he has been witnessing people with disabilities and people living in iron lungs due to polio.
Marple said he doesn’t want to see West Virginia kids getting hurt, and that it’s “must have” to keep getting the vaccinations they need.
“I don’t want that in my conscience,” he said before voting no on the bill.
West Virginia currently has no state health officers, but the last three who held the position wrote a joint letter to lawmakers on Friday asking them to vote “no” on the bill.
Morrisey’s communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, said the debate was “sadly derailed” as Morrisey proposed his proposal to provide a religious exemption to “an in-feasible and strict orders.”
“West Virginia is unable to offer these exemptions and remains an outlier in line with liberal nations like California and New York,” he said in a statement.
State praised for its vaccine policy
The recent US Disease Control and Prevention Report on kindergarten vaccination exemptions lists West Virginia’s lowest exemption rate in the country and the highest vaccination rate for children of age.
State law requires children to receive the vaccine for chicken po, measles, measles, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, meningitis, polio, tetanus, and ooping cough before starting school. The state does not require Covid-19 vaccinations.
Last year, former governor and current US Senator Jim Justice Less Sweep Vaccination Law It was passed by a very large Republican Congress that would have exempted students from private schools and several non-traditional public schools from vaccination requirements.
At the time, Justice said it must be postponed to licensed health professionals who have spoken “overwhelmingly” against the legislation.
Religious freedom
Morrissey, who previously served as West Virginia’s Attorney General, said he believes religious exemptions for vaccinations should already be allowed in West Virginia under a 2023 state law. Equal Religious Protection Law.
The law provides that the government cannot “substantially burden” its constitutional rights to religious freedom unless it can prove that it has a “persuasive interest” that restricts its rights.
Morrisey said that since the law was passed, it has not been “completely and properly enforced.” He urged Congress to help codify religious immunization exemptions into the law.
After the bill failed Monday, Democrat leader Mike Pshkin called on lawmakers to reach out to Morrissey and “please ask them to “rescend dangerous executive orders on childhood vaccinations.”
The US kindergarten vaccination rate was soaked in 2023, with the percentage of children with exemptions rising to an all-time high. Federal data Posted in October.
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