by James Lyons-Weiler, Popular Rationalism, ©2025
(Aug. 26, 2025) — West Virginia now recognizes a signed religious or moral objection to school-entry vaccination and instructs state officials to take no enforcement action against that objector where the state’s Equal Protection for Religion Act (EPRA) would be violated. Governor Patrick Morrisey’s Executive Order 7-25 (Jan 14, 2025) authorizes objections from “persons who desire to send their children to a state school or state-regulated child care center” on religious or conscientious grounds. That’s not confined to a narrow class (e.g., only parents, only members of a particular denomination). It covers any person responsible for a child’s enrollment—parent, guardian, custodian—within the school/child-care context.
It also directs agencies to stand up an objections process and deliver rules and draft legislation to codify the exemption. West Virginia Secretary of State
Background. For decades, West Virginia was among the strictest states: the school-entry statute, W. Va. Code § 16-3-4, listed required immunizations and provided only a medical exemption via the Commissioner. No express statutory route existed for religious claims. At the same time, West Virginia courts have repeatedly recognized that education is a fundamental constitutional right, and in 2023 the Legislature enacted EPRA, which bars the state from substantially burdening religious exercise unless it proves a compelling interest pursued by the least restrictive means. West Virginia Code, West Virginia Attorney General
That legal architecture collided with agency practice that long said there were “no non-medical exemptions,” leaving families with sincere religious or moral objections to face exclusion. EO 7-25 resolves the conflict at the executive level by harmonizing day-to-day administration of § 16-3-4 with EPRA’s strict-scrutiny standard and by ordering codification. WVOEPS West Virginia Secretary of State
What changed
- Signed statement = sufficient proof. EO 7-25 provides that “a writing signed by the objector shall be sufficient proof to establish the objection.”
- Non-enforcement where EPRA applies. State officials “shall take no action to enforce” school-entry vaccination against the particular objector when enforcement would violate EPRA.
- Codification clock. The Bureau for Public Health and the State Health Officer must propose rules and legislation and report objection counts to the Governor by a set deadline.
What did not change. § 16-3-4 remains on the books (public, private, and parochial K-12 and state-regulated child-care); medical exemptions still run through the Commissioner. EO 7-25 does not repeal statutes—it binds executive agencies and resets enforcement to comply with EPRA.
How it works now (for families and schools)
- A parent/guardian prepares a one-page signed objection stating a sincere religious or moral objection to one or more vaccines listed in § 16-3-4, names the student and school/program, and dates/signs the statement.
- Submit per the Bureau’s forthcoming process (or, until it posts, deliver to the school/district and copy local health officials). Keep a stamped copy.
- Schools enroll the student while agencies implement the EPRA-compliant process; officials do not enforce against that objector where EPRA would be violated. West Virginia Secretary of State
Federal posture—and Kennedy’s public stance
HHS’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to West Virginia health departments participating in the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program: VFC providers must comply with applicable state law, including any law “relating to any religious or other exemption.” The letter cites EPRA and EO 7-25 and ties compliance to federal program participation. HHS.gov
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. explicitly backed the order on X: he stands with Governor Morrisey, will enforce conscience protections at HHS, and urges legislators to protect these rights. X
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