Editor, News-Register:

West Virginia’s government is currently discussing the issue of school vaccine mandates, debating personal freedoms against the health and safety of children. But, what will Gov. Patrick Morrisey do if his leadership results in a measles outbreak in West Virginia?

In February, the West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 460, allowing parents to use philosophical or religious beliefs to avoid the state’s mandatory immunizations requirements for both public and private schools. The bill would permit unvaccinated children to participate in extracurricular activities and allows for civil lawsuits against schools that discriminate against unvaccinated students.

After a month, a House of Delegates committee amended the Senate bill and removed the religious and philosophical exemptions. The full House late last week added the religious exemptions back into the legislation, with further discussion set for this week.

This new bill would now allow a licensed physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner to submit a written report to the school or child care center allowing exemption for a specific immunization, provided the medical professional determines the vaccination could harm the child. It also allows for families to provide a written statement for a religious exemption.

At this time, it is unclear what bill might pass and be signed into law, but Gov. Morrisey is in favor of religious and philosophical exemptions.

Current West Virginia law requires children attending school to show proof of immunization for pertussis, tetanus, polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B unless a medical exemption is provided.

An important issue is to understand the difference between vaccinations and immunizations. Vaccines stimulate the immune system to fight off infection. Immunization is more powerful. It is the process of getting the body to become immune to that disease. It prevents that disease and guards against spreading it to others. The shots given for measles, mumps, polio, etc. are actually immunizations that eliminate the disease. They should not be confused with the COVID vaccine, which aimed to mitigate COVID symptoms, but could not eliminate the infection, much like the flu vaccine.

Measles is a highly contagious, infectious disease caused by a virus. It is an airborne disease that spreads easily through coughs and sneezes, and it would be disastrous in a school environment. In 2000, because of the MMR immunization, measles was declared eliminated.

In spite of that, as of March 15, 2025, measles outbreaks occurred in Texas and New Mexico from an unvaccinated population, resulting in two deaths. The CDC reported 301 cases in 15 jurisdictions, and 34% of these cases are in children under the age of 5. These statistics show why it’s so important to keep our school vaccine policy in place.

Over the last century, effective immunizations have been introduced and eliminated many harmful diseases. My grandfather told me a story about a man named Dave Garroway, who used to have a television show on NBC. Mr. Garroway mentioned the name Dr. Jonas Salk to his school-aged son. His son said, “Who’s that?” Garroway said he’s the man who found the polio vaccine. The son said, “What’s polio?”

My grandfather’s generation can easily remember people who were impacted by this awful disease, but my generation has no clue about polio — all thanks to immunizations.

In a state that ranks 50th in public health according to U.S. News & World Report, we need to do everything we can to protect our citizens, especially our most vulnerable population. Required school immunizations protect people who can’t receive vaccines because of medical conditions as well as infants who are too young to receive the vaccine. Allowing parents to exempt their children from these immunizations is irresponsible and puts our community in danger.

Gov. Morrisey and West Virginia legislators, please enact a bill that will keep all West Virginians safe.

Bridget Zimmerman

Concerned high school student

Wheeling