Does West Virginia’s vaccine mandate for public school students violate civil liberties? Some in the state Legislature and Governor’s Mansion seem to think so.
ACLU-WV disagrees.
For 105 years, the ACLU has defended religious freedom. One of our landmark religious freedom cases was right here in West Virginia — Barnette v. Board of Education, in which ACLU attorneys successfully represented Jehovah’s Witness students in Kanawha County who refused to salute the flag during the height of nationalism in WWII.
We also haven’t been shy about vigorously defending bodily autonomy over the years in supporting abortion rights, gender-affirming care and more.
But we see no civil liberties problem with requiring students to be fully vaccinated in order to attend school.
When rights come into conflict with each other, they must be carefully weighed. In the case of vaccine mandates, it’s important to remember that no right is absolute and that we do not have the right to inflict harm on other people.
West Virginia children have a right under the state Constitution and numerous court rulings to a free education. That includes students who have conditions that might make them more susceptible to certain illnesses or make vaccines ineffective. Their lives and their education depend on their classmates being fully inoculated.
Vaccine requirements also safeguard those who work in our school system, from teachers, to cafeteria workers, to bus drivers.
While vaccine mandates are not always permissible, they rarely run afoul of civil liberties when they involve highly infectious and dangerous diseases.
Even though the FDA and independent medical experts have long found that required vaccines are effective and safe (outside of the rare allergic or adverse reaction) a torrent of online misinformation has led a growing number of people to object to them under the pretense of religious objections.
And now, West Virginia legislators are pandering to the misinformed.
Senate Bill 460, which has already passed the state Senate and now heads to the House of Delegates, violates the rights of vulnerable students. It allows parents to cite vague religious or moral positions to exempt their children from vaccine requirements and still attend public schools.
It is telling that the Senate’s only remaining medical doctor, Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, was among the 12 “no” votes on the bill. Takubo should also be commended for repeatedly trying to reduce the bill’s harm by offering amendments to weaken it during the committee process. His Senate colleagues rejected all of them.
As the bill enters the House, we encourage delegates to follow Dr. Takubo’s lead — and protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable kids.
This op-ed by ACLU-WV Advocacy Director Rusty Williams originally appear on West Virginia Watch, an independent, nonpartisan news service based in Charleston.
.