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Editor, News-Register:
As a parent of two and an educator, I am troubled by the discussion surrounding SB 535, creating religious and philosophical exemption for school-required immunizations.
West Virginia has one of the most effective school immunization policies in the nation. Over the last several years, four states (California, New York, Maine and Connecticut) have mirrored their school immunization requirements on ours after their states experienced outbreaks of measles that resulted in hospitalizations.
This is not a partisan issue; this is a public health issue.
These immunizations include: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B. Measles, which is dangerous especially for our childhood population, infected 82 children and hospitalized 32 children in our neighboring state of Ohio in 2022. Four of the children had missing immunization records, and the remaining 78 were partially or completely unvaccinated.
Allowing nonmedical exemptions will undoubtedly result in reductions in our state's immunization rates, allow preventable diseases that we have worked hard to eliminate to return to our state, and put our school students, school personnel, and their families at risk for these diseases.
School requirements also ensure that students are being evaluated and screened for developmental delays - physical, mental, and emotional.
I understand the need to have medical exemption, but the ability to opt-out for any reason other than medical necessity further puts children in danger of meeting developmental benchmarks with regular well-child visits from a pediatrician.
As an elementary educator, I understand how important early detection is to prevent children from falling behind in development.
By maintaining high immunization rates among school-age children, we can keep our children in the classroom where they need to be.
Preventable illness is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism, and West Virginia has been doing this right for years by ensuring a safe school environment for children and their families.
Ashley Wolfe
Wheeling