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- Data suggest that parents in WV vaccinate their children primarily because they have no other choice, and rates would dip dangerously if nonmedical exemptions were allowed.
- Data suggest that parents in WV vaccinate their children primarily because they have no other choice, and rates would dip dangerously if nonmedical exemptions were allowed.
A West Virginia grassroots network is calling on lawmakers to not allow religious or philosophical vaccine exemptions for children attending public school or state-regulated child care centers.
“West Virginia is in trouble,” Meredith Snead, a concerned native of the state who is spearheading the effort, told me of Senate Bill 359. "No one listened" she says of the many times her impoverished state has been let down. "There is nowhere else I'd rather be, but the people of my state have been sold out by politicians and businessmen over and over." The state is one of only three in the U.S., along with California and Mississippi, that only allow physician-recommended exemptions for clearly defined cases in which immunization is contraindicated.
Introduced on February 21, the bill contains language that would potentially wreak havoc in the state by allowing parents to forgo vaccines for their children for religious or philosophical reasons. Data suggest that parents in WV vaccinate their children primarily because they have no other choice, and rates would dip dangerously if nonmedical exemptions were allowed. Consider that vaccination for preschool-aged children in the state are among the lowest in the nation according to the CDC. By contrast, when kids reach elementary school, rates climb starkly to 97% or higher for all recommended vaccines. In conjunction with current narrow medical exemptions allowed in WV, the relatively high poverty levels mean that parents don’t have the resources to opt out of public school, so vaccination rates jump and remain high for school-aged children.
The bill comes at a time when top lawmakers from both parties have signed on to a “dear colleagues” letter to members of Congress to stress in no uncertain terms that vaccines save lives. Hopeful vaccine advocates say there’s a good chance that SB 359 will fizzle out. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at University of California Hastings College of the Law, known for her work on defense of vaccination, told me that such ideological bills are “an annual thing” in states that don’t allow religious or philosophical exemptions. “Anti-vaccine activists try every year to get an exemption in,” she explained. For example, a similar bill in Mississippi died in committee last year despite self-described "relentless" activists pushing for non-medical exemptions.
But Snead is taking no chances. “I'm terrified that if the compulsory law changes to allow religious or conscientious objection exceptions to vaccinations that our vaccination rates will sharply fall,” Snead told me. “I'm trying my best to protect my state.”
For that reason she will attend today’s WV Senate Health and Human Resources meeting in person hoping to have in-person discussions about the bill. A letter that Snead emailed to all members of the West Virginia Senate Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday night reads:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you concerned about Senate Bill 359. I want you to know that as a scientifically literate citizen, the passage of this bill is a danger to West Virginia's children and entire population.
Please consider that mandatory vaccination without religious or personal exemptions in order to attend public school has led to higher vaccination rates overall.
Vaccines rely on the fundamental concept of herd immunity to remain effective. While the herd immunity threshold (HIT) for each disease we vaccinate against varies, scientific consensus in the immunological community is that 90% or better of the population needs to remain vaccinated to protect those who truly cannot be vaccinated due to legitimate medical reasons.
Now, one major concern is that preschool-age children in West Virginia are already falling below that 90% threshold, as you can see in this 2013 report from the CDC.
What West Virginia's mandatory vaccination policy for entry into public education does is dramatically increases the vaccination rates by the time those preschool-age children reach kindergarten. According to this 2015 WV-DHHR report, the vaccination rates were all 97% or better.
Vaccinations have been proven safe and effective, over and again. Allowing for religious and philosophical exemptions where there needn't be any will only weaken the herd immunity, and as such, the health of all West Virginians. I strongly urge you to oppose this and any bill that would change the current policy.
Thank you for your time.
Meredith Snead
Beckley, West Virginia
**(Note, the links were included as text in the original letter but have been hyperlinked here.)
Senator Robert Karnes (R), for one, seems unaware of the dire consequences of low vaccination rates. He responded a mere 13 minutes after Snead sent the email on Tuesday evening. “WV is one of only three states that do not have religious exemptions,” he wrote. “People in the other 47 seem to be living okay. I support including the exemption and respecting the religious rights of West Virginians.”
It’s possible that Karnes, who serves on the committee and is one of the bill's sponsors, didn’t have time during that short window to read through the citations provided in the email. He must not realize that people in other states may be “living okay” overall but that low vaccination rates cause preventable illness, suffering and death.
Though SB 359 is not on today’s Senate Health and Human Resources Committee meeting agenda, Snead says that the assistant to Tom Takubo, Chair of the Health and Human Resources Committee, advised that attending this meeting is the best way to request a public hearing on the bill. Snead is unsure whether she will request a hearing or pursue other avenues to stop the bill. “The legislative process is wholly unfamiliar and seems a bit unnavigable, but I'll learn as quickly as possible,” she said. “The lack of transparency is frustrating, but I'm smart, stubborn, and have science on my side.”
Currently, on a medical leave of absence leading up to her fifth ankle reconstruction surgery due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Snead also has time on her side. As an aunt to a toddler, self-described “lab geek,” and lover of science with a bachelor’s degree in applied sciences working on a second degree in chemical engineering at West Virginia University, she says this issue is personal. She explained via email, “Have you ever had a moment where you knew with every fiber of your being you had to speak, scream, protest the Capitol building because you knew what was on the line? This is my moment. Even if the committee doesn't hear me [today], I'll have letters to the editor out to newspapers. I'll contact local pediatricians I know personally. I'm going all in on this one.”
