CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia officials suspended a school vaccination mandate Wednesday after a judge ruled that parents can cite religious beliefs to opt out of vaccines required for their children to attend classes.
In issuing a permanent injunction in a lawsuit filed in June, Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble on Wednesday said children of families who object to the state’s compulsory vaccination law on religious grounds will be allowed to attend school and participate in extracurricular sports.
Froble ruled that a state policy barring parents from seeking religious exemptions violates the Equal Protection for Religion Act signed into law in 2023 by then-Republican Gov. Jim Justice.
West Virginia was among just a handful of states that granted only medical exemptions from school vaccinations when Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order in January allowing religious exemptions.
But the state Board of Education voted in June to direct public schools to ignore the executive order and instead follow long-standing school vaccine requirements laid out in state law. After Wednesday’s ruling, the board said it “hereby suspends the policy on compulsory vaccination requirements” pending an appeal before the state Supreme Court.
Wednesday’s ruling “is a win for every family forced from school over their faith,” Morrisey, who was not a party in the lawsuit, said in a statement.
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Two groups had sued over Morrisey’s executive order, saying the Legislature, not the governor, has the authority to make such decisions.
Legislation that would have allowed the religious exemptions was passed by the state Senate and rejected by the House of Delegates earlier this year. Froble said in his ruling that the failure of the legislation did not determine the application of the 2023 law. He rejected the defendants’ argument that religious exemptions can only be created by legislative action.
“Legislative intent is not absolute nor controlling in interpreting a statute or determining its application; at most, it is a factor,” Froble said.
Miranda Guzman and other parents sued the state and local boards of education and the Raleigh County schools superintendent. Guzman had obtained a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate from the state health department and enrolled her child in elementary school for the 2025-26 school year. But on June 17, Guzman received an email from the local school superintendent rescinding the certificate, according to the lawsuit.
Froble issued a preliminary injunction in July allowing the children of the three plaintiffs’ families in Raleigh County to attend school.
Last month, Froble certified the case as a class action involving 570 families who had sought and received religious exemptions in other parts of the state. He said the class action also applies to parents who seek religious exemptions in the future. Froble noted the total number of exemptions so far involved a small fraction of the statewide student population and “would not meaningfully reduce vaccination rates or increase health risks.”
West Virginia’s school vaccination policy long has been heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for children. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school.
At least 30 states have religious freedom laws, including one signed by Georgia’s governor in April. The laws are modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton, which allows federal regulations that interfere with religious beliefs to be challenged.
