A legal pendulum swings again in West Virginia’s vaccine exemption fight

• The West Virginia Board of Education has reinstated its ban on religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates following a state Supreme Court stay.
• This action reverses a lower court’s ruling that had temporarily allowed such exemptions under a state religious freedom law.
• The legal battle pits the state’s education board against Governor Patrick Morrisey, who supports religious exemptions via executive order.
• The core conflict centers on whether a 2023 religious freedom law inherently creates an exemption or if new legislation is required.
• With appeals pending, the policy remains in flux, leaving hundreds of families and school districts in legal limbo.

In a swift reversal that underscores a deep legal and political divide, the West Virginia Board of Education reinstated its ban on religious exemptions to school vaccine requirements on December 2, 2025. This move came mere hours after the state Supreme Court paused a lower court’s ruling that had, just days prior, opened the door for families to opt out of mandatory shots on religious grounds. The decision throws the status of hundreds of students back into uncertainty and intensifies a year-long clash between the state’s education authorities and Governor Patrick Morrisey over personal belief, public health and constitutional authority.

The court’s stay halts a landmark injunction

The reinstated ban directly responds to an order from the West Virginia Supreme Court. The high court issued a stay against the November 26 ruling by Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble. In that ruling, Judge Froble had sided with parents in a class-action lawsuit, finding that the state’s policy of refusing all non-medical exemptions “substantially burdened” religious exercise under the state’s 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act. He issued a permanent injunction, ordering education boards to accept religious exemptions.

The Supreme Court’s brief stay halts enforcement of Froble’s injunction pending the resolution of appeals. The state Board of Education immediately reimposed its directive to county school systems, stating the ban “will be in effect until the Supreme Court issues further guidance.” The board affirmed its priority is ensuring compliance with the existing vaccine law to “safeguard the health and well-being of all students.”

A year of executive orders and defiance

The current legal turmoil has its roots in actions taken earlier in the year. In January 2025, Governor Morrisey, a Republican, issued an executive order directing state officials to allow religious exemptions, citing the 2023 religious freedom law. However, the state Board of Education, which sets policy for public schools, voted in June to ignore the governor’s order, choosing instead to enforce the longstanding 2015 statute that permits only medical exemptions.

This defiance set the stage for the consolidated lawsuits now before the courts. The litigation involves two major plaintiff groups:

• Parents seeking religious exemptions for their children.
• Parents of immunocompromised children opposing broad exemptions on public health grounds.

The state’s position has been that only the legislature, not the governor or the courts, can create a new exemption to the school vaccine law—a argument Judge Froble explicitly rejected.

West Virginia as a public health outlier

West Virginia’s strict mandate has long made it an outlier. For decades, it was one of only a handful of states—currently five—that did not allow religious or philosophical exemptions to school immunizations. This policy has been credited by public health experts for maintaining high vaccination rates and preventing outbreaks of diseases like measles. The required immunizations cover ten diseases, including measles, mumps, polio and whooping cough.

The national debate over vaccine mandates and religious liberty is not new, but it has gained fresh intensity in recent years. The 2023 state law at the center of this case is modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which established a legal test for government actions that burden religious practice. At least 30 states now have similar statutes, creating a complex legal landscape where public health mandates increasingly face religious liberty challenges.

The stakes and the path forward

The immediate stakes are high and practical. Following Judge Froble’s initial ruling, over 570 families across the state had received religious exemptions, and children were attending school under the injunction. The Supreme Court’s stay has abruptly reversed that situation, potentially affecting those students’ enrollment. The board’s directive now places local school officials in the difficult position of navigating conflicting legal orders.

The broader constitutional question—whether the vaccine law can stand without a religious exemption given the state’s own religious freedom act—remains unanswered. Governor Morrisey, while reviewing the Supreme Court’s stay, has reiterated his stance that West Virginia should join the 45 states that provide some form of non-medical exemption, stating the goal is to “no longer be such an outlier on vaccine policy.” He has concurrently called for the legislature to pass a statute explicitly adding a religious exemption, a measure the House of Delegates rejected earlier this year.

A state awaits final judgment

For now, West Virginia’s school vaccine policy has snapped back to its traditional form, one of the most stringent in the nation. Yet the legal and political forces seeking to change it have not relented. The state Supreme Court’s decision to hear the appeal ensures this is not the final chapter. The outcome will not only determine the school enrollment status of hundreds of children but will also set a significant precedent at the intersection of public health authority and religious liberty law within the state. As the appeals process unfolds, families, school administrators and health officials are left in a holding pattern, awaiting a final ruling that will resolve one of the most contentious health policy debates in West Virginia’s recent history.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

APNews.com

AOL.com