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Vaccination rates are declining. They might get worse as states relax rules.

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westvirginiawatch.com – Shalina Chatlani – 2025-03-03 05:00:00

Vaccination rates are declining. They might get worse as states relax rules.

by Shalina Chatlani, West Virginia Watch
March 3, 2025

More states are loosening vaccine mandates, scaling back vaccine promotion efforts and taking other steps likely to lower vaccination rates — even as a major measles outbreak spreads in Texas.

Meanwhile, public health experts worry that the confirmation of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could add fuel to such efforts, leading to the resurgence of long-tamed infectious diseases. Kennedy has made numerous baseless or false claims about vaccines, including linking them to autism and cancer and saying there is “poison” in the coronavirus vaccine.

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which Kennedy now oversees, canceled the upcoming meeting of a scientific panel that was slated to discuss next year’s flu vaccines. Also this week, an unvaccinated child died of measles in Texas — the country’s first measles death in a decade. The outbreak, which has spilled into neighboring New Mexico, has now grown to more than 130 cases.

Already, vaccination rates are lower than they were before the pandemic. The COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, but many Americans bristled at vaccine mandates, and disinformation and rapidly evolving public health advice undermined many people’s trust in scientific authorities.

Public health will always, to some extent, involve politics, because it requires resources. … But it doesn’t have to be partisan.

– Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Changing attitudes have had an impact: Vaccination rates among children born in 2020 and 2021 declined by between 1.3 and 7.8 percentage points for recommended shots, compared with children born in 2018 and 2019, according to a September report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The anti-vaccination trend is “the antithesis of public health,” Dr. Scott Rivkees, a pediatric endocrinologist who served as Florida’s surgeon general and health secretary from 2019 to 2021, told Stateline.

“The role of people in departments of health and the role of people in health care and medicine is to promote health and make sure the public is safe,” Rivkees told Stateline. “There’s such a rich history of legal precedent, such a rich history of public health precedent, saying that society benefits by having individuals vaccinated.”

In all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, children must receive certain vaccines to attend school. Every state offers an exemption for children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Thirty states plus the district allow families to skip the vaccinations for religious reasons, 13 states grant exemptions for religious or personal reasons, and two states — Louisiana and Minnesota — don’t require people to specify whether their objection is religious or personal.

Five states — California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia — don’t allow nonmedical exemptions.

Republican officials in more than a dozen states have introduced legislation to loosen vaccine rules or otherwise reduce their use.

Legislation in Arizona would make it easier to claim a school exemption, while GOP-sponsored bills in Connecticut, Minnesota, New York and Oregon would limit or prohibit vaccine mandates for adults.

In Idaho, a Senate panel last week debated a bill that would ban mRNA vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, for a decade. Montana and Mississippi lawmakers considered but defeated similar proposals. And in West Virginia — one of the five states that currently does not allow nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine requirements — lawmakers are advancing a bill that would allow religious and philosophical objections.

“Public health will always, to some extent, involve politics, because it requires resources,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Offit serves on the FDA panel that was supposed to discuss next year’s flu vaccines.

“But it doesn’t have to be partisan, which is what has happened.”

A shift in Louisiana

Earlier this month, Dr. Ralph Abraham, Louisiana’s first-ever surgeon general, sent a memo to staff at the Louisiana Department of Health saying they should no longer recommend that Louisianans get “any and all vaccines.” The memo also said the agency will “no longer promote mass vaccination.” Instead, Abraham said, health workers should encourage residents to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccines with their doctors.

The memo puts an end to the Louisiana health department’s robust history of promoting vaccinations through local public health departments, community health fairs and media campaigns.

“Vaccines should be treated with nuance, recognizing differences between seasonal vaccines and childhood immunizations, which are an important part of providing immunity to our children. … Getting vaccinated, like any other health procedure, is an individual’s personal choice,” the memo states.

The agency did not respond to multiple requests for comment via email and phone call. But in a letter posted to the department’s website earlier this month, Abraham wrote that the state had made several missteps during the pandemic, including: promoting “inaccurate and inconsistent guidance on masking, poor decisions to close schools, unjustifiable mandates on civil liberties, and false claims regarding natural immunity.”

Abraham wrote that vaccinations can be good for some, but can be harmful for others, and that for decades public health has been driven by an ideology that “the sacrifice of a few is acceptable and necessary for the ‘greater good.’”

“We should reject this utilitarian approach and restore medical decision-making to its proper place: between doctors and patients,” he wrote.

Louisiana Republican lawmakers have embraced this sentiment, saying that after the COVID-19 pandemic, they want to see less government involvement in vaccinations.

“I’m pleased that Dr. Abraham has taken this approach,” said Republican state Rep. Kathy Edmonston, who last year authored laws prohibiting Louisiana schools from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations and mandating that they provide exemption information to parents. “I’m not against vaccinations. He’s not against vaccinations. I’m for people being able to make up their own mind.”

Jill Hines, co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana, a group that opposes vaccine mandates, dismissed the significance of ending mass vaccination campaigns, because “everybody should have a primary care physician if they want one, and nobody is really denied access to a vaccine.”

But Kimberly Hood, former assistant secretary of the Louisiana Office of Public Health, noted that the state is largely rural, and many residents don’t have easy access to a health care provider.

“Failing to promote vaccination may not sound like a huge deal, but it actually invalidates what we in public health have seen and learned for many, many years, which is that you have to make it easy, affordable, accessible,” Hood told Stateline.

“It’s not just stepping away from vaccination; we’re stepping away from our kind of obligation together, what it means to live together in a society.”

Staying the course in Mississippi

But in neighboring Mississippi, which is also Republican-dominated, GOP leaders are staying the course — at least so far. More than two dozen anti-vaccine bills have died in the Mississippi legislature in the past two years, including this year’s proposed ban on mRNA vaccines.

The state struggled with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during the pandemic, and in 2022 Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law a measure banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

But for years, Mississippi maintained one of the highest childhood vaccination rates in the nation. The state slipped from first to third between 2023 and 2024, after a federal judge ruled that the state must allow religious exemptions. Its current childhood vaccination rate is 97.5%, well above the 91% national average but lower than the 99.3% rate it had in 2019.

“Our law is still in effect, and if you don’t have a medical or religious exemption, then you must be fully vaccinated to attend school or go to day care in Mississippi,” said Dr. Daniel Edney, Mississippi’s state health officer. “The science is clear and in Mississippi we stand on the science.”

Edney said he hasn’t faced any political pressure to reverse course. Unlike in Louisiana, where Republican Gov. Jeff Landry tapped Abraham — a former three-term Republican congressman who co-chaired his transition committee — as surgeon general, Edney was selected by the 11-member Mississippi State Board of Health. The governor chooses the members of that panel, but they serve staggered four-year terms.

“I have zero pressure from the governor or legislative leadership regarding our approach to vaccines,” Edney told Stateline. “We’re not focused on politics. We don’t blow in the wind based on what administration is in power.”

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

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West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

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News from the South - West Virginia News Feed

WV Supreme Court will hear BOE’s appeal in vaccine lawsuit — but not right away

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westvirginiawatch.com – Lori Kersey – 2025-09-05 09:21:00


The West Virginia Supreme Court will review the Board of Education’s appeal against a Raleigh County judge’s July ruling that allowed religious exemptions to the state’s mandatory school vaccine requirements. The court set a Dec. 12 deadline for the board’s appeal but denied requests to expedite the case or pause lower court proceedings. The legal battle centers on religious freedom versus strict vaccination laws; West Virginia is one of five states without religious exemptions for school vaccines. Governor Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order permitting exemptions based on the 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act. A hearing on a permanent injunction is scheduled for Sept. 10-11.

by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
September 5, 2025

West Virginia’s highest court will take on a legal battle over the state’s school vaccination requirements, but it denied a request by state school officials that it do so quickly. 

The state Supreme Court on Thursday set a deadline of Dec. 12 for the West Virginia Board of Education to prepare its appeal of a Raleigh County judge’s July ruling against it. That ruling was in regards to a lawsuit brought by three Raleigh County families over the board’s refusal to accept religious exemptions to the state’s mandatory school vaccine requirements. 

Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble in July granted a preliminary injunction in the case that allows students in the case to attend class with a religious exemption to the vaccination requirements. 

The school board had filed notice of appeal and asked the high court to both expedite a review of the appeal and temporarily halt the proceedings in the lower court. 

In the scheduling order Thursday, the court denied both motions. Justices also set a deadline of Jan. 26 for the plaintiffs in the case to respond to the board’s appeal. The board will then have until Feb. 16, 2026 to write a reply, if necessary. 

After the Feb. 16 reply brief deadline, the court writes, the appeal will be ready for review. 

The Raleigh lawsuit is one case in a legal battle over religious freedom and the state’s strict school vaccination requirements. Every state requires school students to be vaccinated against a number of infectious diseases including polio, chicken pox and measles. Florida officials announced this week plans to eliminate its vaccine mandates

West Virginia has been one of only five states that have not allowed students to opt out of the shots because of their religious or philosophical objections to them. 

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order on his second day in office requiring the state to allow religious exemptions. His order is based on the 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act. He argues that the religious freedom law, when read alongside the vaccination law, calls for the religious exemptions. 

Morrisey has not rescinded that executive order, even though the state Legislature earlier this year rejected a bill that would have established those religious exemptions in state code. 

Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble has scheduled a two-day hearing next week on a  permanent injunction in the lawsuit, which he recently consolidated with a lawsuit brought against the state health department by two parents of immunocompromised students over its issuance of religious exemptions. Plaintiffs in that case are represented by the ACLU of West Virginia and Mountain State Justice. 

The hearing is set for Sept. 10 and 11 at the Raleigh County Judicial Center. During that hearing, the judge has said he wants to consider issues that include whether the state’s vaccination law is constitutional without religious exemptions and the authority of Morrisey’s executive order. 

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West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post WV Supreme Court will hear BOE’s appeal in vaccine lawsuit — but not right away appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The content presents a factual and balanced overview of the legal dispute surrounding vaccine exemptions in West Virginia without evident partisan language or framing. It reports on actions taken by government officials, court decisions, and ongoing lawsuits from multiple perspectives, including those of the state board, families, and advocacy groups. The neutral tone and focus on legal developments suggest a centrist approach, aiming to inform rather than persuade toward a particular political viewpoint.

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News from the South - West Virginia News Feed

Christian’s Morning Forecast: Strong to Severe Storms Incoming

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www.youtube.com – WOAY TV – 2025-09-04 06:46:25

SUMMARY: Storm Watch meteorologist Christian Boler reports strong to severe storms approaching West Virginia, especially McDow, Tazewell, and Wyoming counties during the morning commute. Temperatures will remain in the upper 60s to low 70s with southwest winds around 5-10 mph. A marginal severe weather threat exists across the region, mainly involving winds and flooding, but no tornadoes or hail expected. Rainfall of a quarter to half an inch is likely over 48 hours with isolated downpours. Storms will arrive in two waves before clearing Friday. Another front may bring showers Saturday, but high pressure will clear skies for the weekend and beyond.

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More states guarantee students the right to school-day religious instruction off campus

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westvirginiawatch.com – Robbie Sequeira – 2025-09-04 05:00:00


LifeWise Academy, a nonprofit founded in Ohio, offers free, off-campus Bible-based education to nearly 100,000 public school students across 1,100 schools in 34 states. Amid court setbacks for displaying the Ten Commandments in schools, at least 12 states, including Iowa, Montana, Ohio, and Texas, have passed laws allowing released time religious instruction—letting students leave school during the day for private religious classes. This approach, upheld by a 1952 Supreme Court ruling, shifts religious education off school grounds and is privately funded. Some states permit academic credit for such instruction, though this remains controversial. LifeWise advocates for expanding these options nationwide.

by Robbie Sequeira, West Virginia Watch
September 4, 2025

In the past month or so, federal courts have dealt a string of blows to conservatives’ push for the biblical Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools.

Yet as states lose over required religious displays, many are working on another route to faith-based education by allowing kids to attend off-campus religious instruction. This year, Iowa, Montana, Ohio and Texas passed laws guaranteeing parents the right to have their children excused during the school day for free, off-campus religious instruction, often called “released time.”

Those four states are the latest of at least 12 that require school districts to offer released time religious schooling upon parental request, including: Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin.

The released time approach may be more likely to pass constitutional muster than other government-imposed religious efforts, experts say, by shifting influence off school grounds and under the direction of faith-based groups rather than public school teachers, and by making it free to students.

A 1952 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Zorach v. Clauson allows for released time religious instruction as long as it’s off school property, privately funded and parent permitted.

“Not every family has access to private or parochial school, but for many generations families have been able to take their students out of school for a portion of the day for religious education if they choose,” said Jennifer Jury, a program advocate for LifeWise Academy, an Ohio-based Christian nonprofit founded in 2018.

The organization has been active in expanding its reach and lobbying lawmakers for stronger legislative support. This school year, LifeWise expects to serve nearly 100,000 public school students across 1,100 schools in 34 states, Jury said.

The off-campus gatherings work the same way in most states: With parents’ approval, public school students sign out of school during a lunch, recess or study hall block. Students will either walk or ride one of the distinctive red LifeWise buses to a local church or a program-leased community building in town.

And depending on state limitations for the religious instruction, for either a half or full hour, kids will learn about the Bible. When the allotted time is up, students go back to their public school to finish the day.

In some states, students can earn academic credit for the off-campus instruction, which has been more controversial.

In Montana, for example, legislation that would have required school districts to develop policies for academic credit was amended to “authorize” a district to allow credit, after pushback from the state’s school boards and school administrators associations.

“School districts should have the autonomy to determine which external coursework aligns with the academic frameworks and whether such courses should be eligible for credit,” Rob Watson, who represented the two groups at the legislature, said in his comments to a House committee in February. He noted the groups did not oppose the released time policy itself.

Despite the changes, only one Democrat in the legislature voted “yes.” Montana GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law in May.

Supporters had touted the academic credit option as a way to entice homeschooling families to consider public schools. In her interview with Stateline, Jury noted similar programs that accommodate Jewish, Muslim and Mormon faith-based teaching for public school students.

“Whether a person is religious or not, the Bible is widely recognized as one of the most influential books in history,” Jury said. “A lot of our Western culture was born out of ideas that come from the Bible, like the fact that every person is created equal, that we are to love our neighbor.”

Identical bill language

The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, in August adopted model legislation about released time policies that state lawmakers can propose.

Public schools would be required to allow dismissal for religious instruction under new bill

ALEC’s proposal would allow from one to five hours per week of off-campus religious instruction and would require school districts to award academic credit if the course meets certain criteria. Districts would have to assess instruction based on secular standards and would not be allowed to test for particular religious content, according to the model legislation.

Nearly identical language had already appeared in several state bills, including in North Carolina and West Virginia this year and in Mississippi in 2023. In North Carolina, LifeWise Academy registered with the secretary of state’s office in 2024, as reported by NC Newsline, and a released time bill was introduced in February. It was sent to committee but never moved ahead.

The bills in Mississippi and West Virginia also stalled.

Legislation that does become law earns praise from groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the nation’s most active legal organizations opposing abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

Statements from Greg Chafuen, senior counsel for the nonprofit’s Center for Public Policy, say the new released time laws respect “parents’ educational decisions” and ensure “parents are in the driver’s seat when it comes to their kids’ education.”

An Indiana law lets high school students leave school for religious instruction each week for an amount of time equal to one elective course. Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee laws allow students to earn elective credit for released time religious instruction, though it cannot replace a “core curriculum” class. School boards can set standards for when such programs qualify for credit.

LifeWise operates in each of those states.

Ten Commandment displays

Jury, of LifeWise Academy, said her organization wants off-campus religious options for public school students to be available in all 50 states.

“It’s important to note this is an option, and parents are the ultimate decision-makers in enrollment,” she said.

“We would love to see every student in the United States have the option to attend a program like LifeWise if they want to and if their parents want them to.”

A lack of parental choice might be what trips up state efforts to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

This is an option, and parents are the ultimate decision-makers in enrollment.

– Jennifer Jury, a program advocate for LifeWise Academy

After Louisiana last year became the first state in recent decades to require that the Ten Commandments, a central tenet of the Judeo-Christian tradition, be displayed in school classrooms, bills followed in at least 15 other states. Two states — Arkansas and Texas — enacted laws.

But for now, courts have blocked the mandates in all three states. In Texas, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery warned the displays “are likely to pressure [children] into religious observance” and undermine parents’ rights.

In Arkansas, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks called the state’s requirement to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments “plainly unconstitutional.”

The law “is not neutral with respect to religion,” he wrote. “By design, and on its face, the statute mandates the display of expressly religious scripture in every public-school classroom and library.”

He also noted that the law “requires that a specific version of that scripture be used, one that the uncontroverted evidence in this case shows is associated with Protestantism and is exclusionary of other faiths.”

Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org.

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes West Virginia Watch, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post More states guarantee students the right to school-day religious instruction off campus appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

This content presents the growing trend of religious education programs in public school contexts with a generally favorable tone, highlighting legislative successes primarily in conservative-led states. The coverage includes references to conservative organizations such as ALEC and Alliance Defending Freedom, and discusses efforts to expand religious instruction in a way that aligns with conservative values emphasizing parental choice and the role of faith in education. However, it also acknowledges the legal challenges and concerns over constitutional boundaries, providing a balanced view that avoids outright advocacy or criticism. The framing and topics suggest a center-right perspective that supports religious accommodations within public education while respecting legal constraints.

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