BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – In the wake of a preliminary injunction granted last week allowing three Raleigh County parents to enroll their unvaccinated children in public school, Governor Patrick Morrisey says the state board of education should reconsider its policy of not allowing religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines.
“Our argument’s always been stronger than the other side,” Morrisey said. “Our position on this was very straightforward. We know that religious liberty matters a great deal in West Virginia. We also know that West Virginia is a wild outlier in terms of how it has historically approached mandatory vaccinations.”
In an order entered in Raleigh County last Friday, Circuit Judge Michael Froble ruled in favor of three Raleigh County parents arguing that the state and county boards of education’s policy to not honor religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines is unconstitutional.
“The court believes that the compulsory vaccination law is not valid without a religious exemption,” Froble said, granting a preliminary injunction. “That statute itself is not constitutional… without a religious exemption.”
According to the governor, that position is correct.
“I thought that was a very positive development. We’ve been advocating for this for a long time,” Morrisey said at a press conference in Beckley. “When the religious freedom law passed several years ago, we knew that it had to have some meaning.”
Morrisey’s position is that state law dealing with mandatory vaccines and exemptions cannot conflict with the state and United States constitutions, as well as the 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act.
Morrisey issued an executive order in January directing the state to begin evaluating and granting religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines. He said that the executive order is a statement of his position.
“We’re not going to have one law that you follow and another law that you ignore. You have to breathe life meaning into both of the laws,” Morrisey said. “That’s what we did in our executive order. The executive order was merely an interpretation of two different laws and giving meaning to them.”
The West Virginia Board of Education maintains that it is merely following a state law by denying medical exemptions to vaccines. In the wake of the ruling, the state board says it is evaluating its next steps.
“While the West Virginia Board of Education is disappointed by the ruling, members of the board will decide next steps in the near future. This injunction is limited in scope and applies only to those named in this lawsuit. It will have no impact on other students in Raleigh County or throughout the state,” the board said in a statement to media.
Governor Morrisey is clear on what he wants the board to do.
“I’m hopeful that the state school board steps back and they say, ‘hey, we understand that the governor’s position is correct,'” he said.
Public health advocates have expressed concerns about further-reaching implications for community health.
“The value of vaccines is not just to protect the individual, but to protect the community by having a sufficient number of people who are immune. That creates what we call herd immunity,” Dr. Joseph Golden, a Raleigh County physician, said.
Morrisey doesn’t believe religious exemptions to vaccines will cause a negative impact on community health.
“There’s really going to be no detrimental public health impact. So that’s not going to impact the herd immunity,” he said. “All we’re doing is suggesting that West Virginia be part of what 45 other states get to benefit from.”
Morrisey and other opponents to mandatory vaccines without religious exemptions still have hurdles to clear. Froble’s ruling only applies to the three plaintiffs who brought the case in Raleigh County.
However, the governor believes that the ultimate conclusion to the saga is clear.
“I can’t tell you what date that we will prevail and where it will happen. But whether it’s via judiciary action or it’s happening on the legislative side, we’re going to get a law that has a religious exemption. I think West Virginia deserves that. It’s going to happen. It’s just a question of when,” Morrisey said.
