By Steven Allen Adams for The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON — A memorandum to county superintendents issued Friday by the West Virginia Department of Education requiring schools to abide by the state’s required immunization program for school-age children was rescinded later that evening after pressure from Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt issued the memorandum to provide guidance for the 2025-26 school year beginning in the fall regarding an executive order by Morrisey requiring state health officials to allow requests for religious or philosophical exemptions to the state’s mandatory immunization schedule to students enter public and private schools in West Virginia.
Legislation to allow religious/philosophical vaccine exemptions failed earlier this year.
“With the 2025 Legislative session behind us, it is time to consider the status of the religious exemption vaccine issue,” Blatt wrote. “While it is our understanding (the Department of Health) intends to continue to issue non-enforcement letters under the Governor’s Executive Order to parents seeking religious exemptions, we are faced with the fact that state law has not been changed by the Legislature and there is no religious exemption provided for in West Virginia law.”
