Justice says he’ll review school vaccine bill before deciding whether to sign it

Members of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the West Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics delivered a letter on Thursday, March 14, 2024, urging Gov. Jim Justice to veto House Bill 5105, which would weaken the state’s school vaccination laws. (Caity Coyne | West Virginia Watch)

Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he’d have to review a bill that would loosen the state’s strong school vaccine laws before he decides whether he will sign it into law.

Justice told reporters his office has been “bombarded with calls” from doctors and other people about House Bill 5105 , which was approved by the Senate and House of Delegates during the regular legislative session and is awaiting consideration by the governor.

“I just need to really look at it,” Justice said during his administration briefing Thursday. “I am all for all the understandings of our freedoms. I am not a medical doctor. I do not know all of the ramifications about the possibilities that can exist or would exist and everything by taking the shots and everything.

“Growing up all of our children, of course all of us have been vaccinated and that was done out of all kinds of preventions as we grew up but nevertheless let me just look at it,” Justice said. I think it’s premature for me to say yeah I’ll sign it or we’ll go another way.”

Like all states, West Virginia requires school students to be vaccinated for a series of infectious diseases. The state is currently one of five in the country that do not allow religious or philosophical exemptions to those vaccine requirements.

House Bill 5105, should Justice sign it, would allow parochial and private schools in West Virginia to establish their own immunization policies and exempt students attending virtual schools from vaccine requirements.

Health officials have touted the state’s strong vaccination laws for the reason it has not seen outbreaks of measles — a highly contagious, potentially deadly disease —  that have become common in other states in recent years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of March 7, a total of 45 measles cases have been reported this year by 17 jurisdictions, including Arizona, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia. West Virginia’s last reported measles case was in 2009.

The bill passed in the Senate in the last hours of the legislative session on Saturday, over the objections of Health Committee Chairman Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, a physician, who called it a “step backwards” for the state.

Earlier this week, medical professionals and a leader of a teachers union called on the governor to veto the bill. On Thursday, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the West Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics also sent a letter to Justice asking him to veto the bill.

After the legislature is adjourned, the governor has 15 days to act on most bills.

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