The House of Delegates could be on the verge of passing a vaccination exemption bill that has gone through a series of changes.
As it has moved closer to the key vote, West Virginia’s three most recent public health officers have warned that loosened exemptions would increase the risk of outbreaks.
Commentary by T.J. Meadows: West Virginia’s School Vaccination Debate Hijacked
SB 460 was introduced on behalf of Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who called for legislation allowing West Virginia families to declare religious and philosophical exemptions to the state’s school vaccination requirements.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a version of the bill on Feb. 12, making some changes from the original.
The House of Delegates then spent some time assessing what could pass that chamber.
The House Health Committee last Tuesday agreed to a version of the bill that would have dropped the religious and philosophical exemptions while instead bolstering medical exemptions.
Right now, state law requires the medical provider to document a medical need for a family seeking an exemption to the state immunization officer, who then would make a decision on approval.
The version of the bill that came out of House Health would permit exemptions through written statements from a family’s licensed physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner if they determine the vaccination could be detrimental to the child’s health or not appropriate.
“We went through a lot of work on that, and I want to stand with the other members of the committee for what we presented to the body,” said House Health Chairman Evan Worrell, R-Cabell.
On Friday, delegates agreed to keep that House Health version as a framework, but they added the religious exemptions back into the bill.
That provision spells out an option for private or parochial schools to inform the state Department of Education that they have a different religious exemption policy. Presumably, those schools could enforce the state’s current standard.
Worrell said the House Health Committee examined keeping a religious exemption, but the committee’s decision just differed from what the full House wanted to do. The philosophical exemptions envisioned by the governor and senators are not currently part of the bill.
“We had those discussions with the committee, but ultimately we decided to bring out what we did, which was an expanded medical exemption,” Worrell told reporters after Friday’s floor session.
“To be honest, we talked about solving problems this year in the House and we saw that there was a problem with the current medical exemption piece, so we expanded that, taking into account what the Senate did. So that was the work of the committee. Many different discussions on many things, but that was a problem we wanted to solve.”
Those committee talks, often behind the scenes, included a range of discussions, Worrell said.
“We had many discussions, privately, just kind of talking about what we wanted to look like. And we really went through what I consider a work product, many different meetings held privately to kind of discuss what we wanted to do. We kind of threw everything at the table,” he said.
So that’s what delegates will be voting on as soon as Monday’s floor session. Because the bill has changed since senators last dealt with it, the Senate would need to review the bill yet again.
Worrell said he doesn’t typically make predictions about vote outcomes. But he observed that the House took a a 52-44 vote on Friday to amend the religious exemptions back into the bill. And the House recorded a 51-44 vote to adopt the House Health version of the bill, now including the medical provisions.
Those are indicators that a passage vote could be a similar count, Worrell suggested.
Worrell said he, personally, would favor giving all citizens a choice about whether to be vaccinated.
“I’ve always been up front and honest that I believe in no vaccine mandates. That’s my personal belief,” said Worrell, R-Cabell, who added that he stands by the group work of the health committee.
Almost all states except California, Mississippi, and West Virginia allow religious or philosophical exemptions for school vaccines, granting parents the ability to opt their children out of vaccinations based on sincerely held beliefs.
Right now, West Virginia students entering school for the first time must show proof of immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B unless properly medically exempted.
The most recent three West Virginia state health officers — Matthew Christiansen, Ayne Amjad and Cathy Slemp — have joined together with a letter to legislators to say the state’s strong school-entry immunization laws are a key reason its rates are among the best in the nation by the time children enter school.
The health officers wrote that by providing for broader exemptions, SB 460 would put communities at risk.
“It trades proven public health protections for an illusion of freedom. True freedom is the ability to live, learn, work, and worship safely and to be healthy – without living in the shadow of outbreaks,” the doctors wrote.
They concluded, “We respectfully urge you to not pass SB 460 (or related laws) in any form that would add non- medical exemptions or otherwise weaken the hard-earned protections keeping our children, families, and communities safe.”