3 additional vaccine bills introduced into W.Va. senate this week

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Senator Patricia Rucker introduced three more bills this week that would change West Virginia’s school vaccine policies. The bills create religious exemptions for K-12 students and college students, and expand medical exemptions by shifting authority from the state to treating physicians.

• SB 608 establishes a religious exemption for school-age children. Parents can exempt their child from required vaccines by presenting a signed certification that they “object to immunization based on sincerely held religious beliefs.”
• SB 609 creates the same religious exemption for college, university, and vocational-technical students. Students 18 and older can sign their own exemption, or parents can sign for younger students.
• SB 610 fundamentally overhauls medical exemptions. Instead of the state commissioner granting medical exemptions, a treating physician or advanced practice provider can issue a written statement that vaccination “is or may be detrimental to the child’s health.” This eliminates the Immunization Officer position.

West Virginia is one of just five states with an absolute vaccine mandate — no exemptions allowed. The state Supreme Court is currently involved in an ongoing legal battle over vaccine requirements after Governor Patrick Morrisey’s executive order conflicted with state law. These bills would codify what Morrisey attempted through executive action. The legislature previously rejected similar exemption proposals in May 2025.

All three bills were referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources.

At the beginning of the session, multiple other bills were also introduced into the legislature. You can read more about those HERE.