West Virginia Vaccine Mandate Upheld by U.S. Fourth Circuit
On Apr. 8, 2026, a federal appeals court found that West Virginia’s compulsory school vaccination law does not violate the First Amendment, despite the state not offering a religious exemption. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a preliminary injunction that had temporarily allowed a virtual school student […]
West Virginia Governor Issues Executive Order to Grant Religious Vaccine Exemption, Backs Lawsuit
West Virginia is one of the five states that fails to provide a religious exemption to compliance with public health laws requiring multiple doses of vaccines for children to attend school. The other states without a religious vaccine exemption include California, New York, Maine and Connecticut.1 2 West Virginia is the only state that has […]
West Virginia on Track to Expand Childhood Vaccine Exemptions
Newly elected West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, within a day of inauguration, issued an executive order1 to establish a process for religious and conscientious objections to state school or state regulated day care center vaccination requirements. This is great news for families in West Virginia who, up to this point, have only had limited medical […]
Kindergarten Vaccination Rates Decrease as Vaccine Exemptions Increase
New data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that vaccination rates among U.S. kindergartners averaged about 92 percent for the diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines and declined during the 2023-2024 school year, while the percentage of children with vaccine exemptions reached […]
California’s Autism Epidemic Worse Than Ever
On June 29, 2015, then-governor of California Jerry Brown signed into law California Senate Bill 277. The law, which took effect on July 1, 2016, removed the personal belief/religious exemption to vaccination for children attending public and private schools and daycare centers. SB 277 was followed by SB 276 and its companion bill SB 714 […]
Higher Levels of SARS-CoV-2 Virus Detected in Some Wastewater Sites
In 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with local health departments and launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) to track SARS-CoV-2 virus levels in wastewater around the country. The goal was to help health officials quickly implement policies to mitigate the spread of the virus.1 The CDC recently confirmed […]