On July 24, a Raleigh County judge granted a preliminary injunction allowing a student to attend school with a religious exemption to required vaccinations, even though West Virginia law allows only medical exemptions.
This ruling, in Guzman v. State Department of Education, is a significant break from decades of strong, evidence-based public health policy.
We write as a public health advocate and a retired safety professional with years of experience in infectious disease education. And we’re deeply concerned. West Virginia’s strict school-entry vaccination requirements have protected generations of children from diseases like measles, mumps, polio and whooping cough. Our law isn’t broken, and this ruling might lead to putting the health of every child, teacher and medically vulnerable person in our schools and communities at risk.
For decades, our state has led the nation in immunization policy. Children entering West Virginia schools and child care centers must be vaccinated against 10 serious diseases, with exceptions allowed only for well-documented medical reasons. This approach has worked. Since 2009, West Virginia has reported just one case of measles, while other states with looser exemption policies have experienced large, disruptive and expensive outbreaks.
When vaccination rates are high, the whole community benefits. That includes not only vaccinated children but also newborns, cancer patients, transplant recipients and children with immune disorders who can’t safely receive vaccines. These individuals rely on herd immunity — the protection that occurs when enough people in a community are vaccinated, making it difficult for disease to spread.
Allowing nonmedical exemptions compromises this protection. In states where religious or philosophical exemptions are permitted, vaccination rates have fallen — and preventable diseases have returned. One national study found that children with nonmedical exemptions are 35 times more likely to contract measles. In Colorado, another study found that unvaccinated children were 22 times more likely to get measles and six times more likely to get pertussis. That’s not speculation. That’s data.
Some who support these exemptions argue that “natural immunity†is better, or that vitamins and supplements are enough to stay healthy. But this ignores how infectious diseases — and the immune system — actually work. Measles is contagious for days before any rash appears. Whooping cough can be fatal to infants before it's even diagnosed. And while nutrients like vitamin A and D support overall health, they don’t trigger the specific immune response needed to prevent disease.
The goal of vaccination is not to prevent all illness, but to give the immune system the tools to respond quickly and effectively. That protection helps individuals — and everyone around them — stay safer and healthier. It’s one of the best tools modern medicine has to offer.
We are grateful that the West Virginia Board of Education has taken a firm, principled stand by upholding existing law and refusing to allow nonmedical exemptions despite political pressure. They are putting the health of children above politics, and they deserve the full support of parents, providers and the public.
Unfortunately, the court’s preliminary ruling has undermined those efforts at the exact moment when schools are preparing to reopen. For students and teachers with medical vulnerabilities, this decision adds uncertainty and unnecessary risk. It opens the door to a legal and political battle that could dismantle the very protections that have kept West Virginia’s kids safe for decades.
Let’s be clear: This is not a debate about personal choice, it’s about public responsibility. Vaccination is one of the most studied, safest and most effective tools we have to prevent disease. West Virginia’s longstanding law is a national model, and we should be working to protect it — not weaken it.
As advocates, parents and professionals, we urge our fellow West Virginians to speak out. This case is a reflection of a broader effort to erode trust in science and public health — driven by ideology, profit motives or misplaced distrust in the institutions that keep us safe. Our kids deserve schools where science, not political agendas, shapes policy — and where every child has a fair chance to learn and thrive in good health.
