A Raleigh County judge handling a high-profile case about religious exemptions to mandatory school vaccinations has filed an order for West Virginia’s newly named acting state health officer to testify next month.
Judge Michael Froble entered the subpoena this week for Dr. Mark McDaniel, who was named acting state health officer less than a month ago.
The parties to the case did not request the testimony of McDaniel. The judge entered this order on his own.
Froble has been presiding over a case focused on whether West Virginia’s religious freedoms law affects school vaccination requirements.
The judge issued a temporary injunction this summer for families who filed suit on behalf of students in Raleigh County. He then held two days of hearings last week on a permanent injunction with testimony from expert witnesses that included former state health officer Cathy Slemp.
The judge has set two more days for the hearing, Oct. 8 and 9. That appears to be when he wants McDaniel to take the stand.
McDaniel was named acting state health officer August 21 after the state went months without one.
McDaniel, who has 25 years of multidisciplinary medical experience, recently retired from the role of state Air Surgeon for the West Virginia National Guard where he advised on health policy for north of 2,000 service members.
West Virginia Watch reported this month that McDaniel provided statements agreeing with Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s position on religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines.
The online news publication reported that McDaniel did not agree to an interview but that a spokeswoman for the department provided answers on his behalf.
“I agree with Gov. Morrisey’s position that no West Virginian should ever be forced to choose between their religious convictions and access to education,” he said in response to questions from West Virginia Watch.
“Our governor’s leadership makes clear that protecting fundamental freedoms can go hand-in-hand with safeguarding public health.”
West Virginia has been roiled by a public policy debate over mandatory school vaccination laws specified in state code versus a separate section of law broadly outlining legal options for people who contend their religious beliefs are being curtailed.
The Morrisey administration says it is maintaining an executive order that the governor issued during his first week in office. Morrisey described the basis as the “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” which went into law in 2023.
Morrisey issued guidance on May 9 directing public school officials to comply with the executive order and asking private schools to do so.
Morrisey wrote in the guidance that parents and guardians may obtain an exemption by sending a signed letter to VaccineExemption@wv.gov including the student’s name and birth date, the name of the parent or guardian and their mailing address and the name of the school.
Those instructions do not tell families to describe any basis for their religious objections.
One likely reason for Judge Froble’s directive for the public health officer to testify is that the judge is interested in how requests for religious exemptions are evaluated.
Testimony in court last week showed that the state health department has gotten 570 applications for religious or philosophical exemptions for the 2025-2026 school year.
Froble expressed concern in the courtroom about how to distinguish between religious and philosophical exemptions. The judge gave lawyers in the case two weeks to write briefs about religious versus philosophical exemptions.
Froble said the governor’s executive order considers not only religious exemptions but also philosophical exemptions. But the judge said his role is to consider the Equal Protection of Religion Act, which would restrict the court’s consideration only to exemptions sought on religious grounds, not philosophical.
He said part of the compelling state interest in the case is the possibility that if religious exemptions are allowed on vague terms “then that opens up the floodgate for all kinds of people who don’t have religious beliefs, but don’t like vaccinations, or have philosophical problems with vaccinations, and therefore, they’ll get exemptions.”