Bill > SB26

This bill revises West Virginia's compulsory immunization laws by creating new exemptions for mandatory vaccinations, allowing children to be excused from specific immunizations if a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner provides a written statement that the vaccines may be detrimental to the child's health or are not appropriate, and also allowing exemptions for religious convictions or philosophical beliefs through a written statement from a parent, guardian, or emancipated child. It also modifies the existing medical exemption process by removing the requirement for a specific certificate from the commissioner and instead relying on the written statement from a healthcare provider, and it eliminates the position of the State Immunization Officer, who previously made determinations on exemption requests. Furthermore, the bill permits individuals harmed by violations of these immunization requirements to seek injunctive relief, which is a court order to stop or compel an action, in a competent court.