THE BULLETIN – Every state in the country requires school children to be vaccinated against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
Those policies have been in place for decades, but during the COVID pandemic, a handful of states worked to weaken them—mainly by making it easier for individuals to claim exemptions.
West Virginia lawmakers recently took the crusade against routine vaccinations a step further, passing a bill to allow private and parochial schools to set whatever rules they see fit.
The bill was another indication of the reach and ambition of anti-vaccine politicians and activists across the country who have successfully targeted policies for both COVID and routine vaccines.
The West Virginia measure died with Gov. Jim Justice’s veto last week, but only after a wide majority of state senators and delegates passed it in the first place. They claim they’ll try again.
“As a result of the veto, what we’re going to have is a renewed debate next year. And we’ll have a new governor next year—and I think that new governor, if I look at the options that are on the table, I feel pretty confident the new governor won’t veto any sort of vaccine bill, and I would expect that the bill that passes through next year might be a bit bigger,” Mike Stewart, a state senator, told the West Virginia outlet Metro News.
School vaccine requirements have been around in the United States since the 1850s …
Governor Justice, who is running for the US Senate seat currently held by Democrat Joe Manchin, who is retiring, cited looser rules in states close to West Virginia in his veto letter.
“[T]he vaccines at issue have been required in this State for decades and have kept our communities safe,” said the governor.
“Our surrounding states, however, have seen spikes in such illnesses recently. These spikes, we are advised, are the result of the lesser vaccine requirements in those states.”
