A bill providing religious and philosophical exemptions to West Virginia’s school vaccination requirements is likely to be considered for a key vote this Friday, the Senate Health chairwoman said.
“I believe it will actually be up on Friday,” Senator Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, said on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
Meanwhile, the Catholic church in West Virginia, which runs a number of private schools with more than 4,000 students, continues to monitor the situation.
SB 460, introduced on behalf of the governor, would allow religious exemptions to the state’s school vaccinations if parents or legal guardians object on legal grounds.
To qualify for the exemption, families would submit an annual written statement requesting a religious or philosophical exemption about required vaccines.
The passage vote would be for the state Senate. It still would need to pass the House of Delegates to complete the legislative process.
A similar bill passed the Legislature last year, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Jim Justice.
As last year’s bill was being considered, Mark Brennan, bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, said the state’s Catholic schools would continue to abide by existing standards.
Right now, the Catholic church in West Virginia is continuing to watch legislative developments.
“The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston is monitoring the current legislation. We have always maintained our constitutional right to order our schools as we see fit in accord with our beliefs,” said Tim Bishop, communications director for the diocese.
Earlier this week, senators rejected several proposals to change the bill — including an amendment to allow private and parochial schools to abide by current requirements, potentially opting out of the exemptions.
That amendment was defeated, 10-21 with three absences.
Speaking today on “Talkline,” Chapman contended that private and parochial schools should follow state vaccination laws, noting that they are already governed by the state’s vaccination requirements and saying any exemptions should apply to the private schools too.
“They exist in the law as it is today,” Chapman said.
She later added, “Our law says that we can tell private schools what to do in health and safety standards, and this is public health.”
Another amendment proposed this week would have required reports on the number of students who have an exemption, the number of students who go to the school and the percentage of students who are unvaccinated.
That amendment was defeated, 9-22 with three absences
Chapman suggested that only a small percentage of children would likely exercise the exemption. She said those who do could be bullied.
“Our neighboring states — I looked at the CDC numbers, they are sub-4 percent. There’s no reason to believe West Virginia will be any different once this is opened up. So you have four out of 100 children, essentially or less, who will exercise exemption process,” she said.
“And so if you have a family of eight children, and all eight children would probably have the same religious beliefs, those children could be singled out if the website says, ‘Oh yes, eight, eight students have exercised this exception process,’ and I don’t want any children to be discriminated against, ridiculed, shamed for not being vaccinated against their religious beliefs.”