A child under the age of 12 receives a vaccine on January 18, 2022, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (Pedro Vilela/Getty Images))
I recently testified before the West Virginia House Committee on Health and Human Resources regarding Senate Bill 460, which would weaken our childhood immunization laws for child care and school enrollment.
West Virginia has long been a national leader in ensuring that our child care and school entry immunization laws remain effective. Naming all of the benefits of keeping these policies in place would have taken up more than the 3-5 minutes I was allotted for my testimony. This editorial is intended to supplement my testimony to West Virginia legislators and others who are following this bill.
Our immunization policies contribute to the maintenance of strong herd immunity, which protects the most vulnerable. The argument that if someone immunizes themselves, they should not be concerned if someone else does not is flawed.
My children attend school in West Virginia. One of their classmates has been diagnosed with congenital neutropenia. This disease makes her susceptible to bacterial infections. It is critical that those around her are immunized so that she can remain safe while attending school.
She is one of many immunocompromised children attending private and public schools in West Virginia who require and deserve protection. Thank you, mom, for allowing me to share her story.
On a personal note, a relative in my family recently returned to school and earned a nursing degree. She currently works as a nurse in West Virginia. Despite being immunized, she is unable to produce an immune response to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
She works on the front lines of medicine, caring for the sickest members of our community, and herd immunity provides her with the best protection against measles, mumps, and rubella. Thank you to my relative for letting me share her story.
Similarly, our teachers who are caring for our children and starting their own families require protection when they are pregnant. Pregnant women who are not immune to rubella due to waning immunity or an inability to produce an immune response to immunization are at risk of passing the virus on to their unborn children.
In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 32,000 children were born with congenital rubella. Approximately 33% of infants with congenital rubella die before their first birthday.
Since the beginning of 2025, three of the five states bordering West Virginia have reported measles cases: Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Last year, measles made its way to West Virginia. Our one case of measles remained isolated thanks to our public health officials’ efforts in disease containment and contact tracing, as well as our current immunization policy for school and child care entry.
Our modern travel capabilities make everyone vulnerable to diseases such as measles, which are becoming more prevalent in our communities. If we let our guard down, we will become vulnerable to additional cases and potential outbreaks.
A measles outbreak is not something West Virginia can afford. And I mean this in the sense that we cannot afford the resources required to contain and manage an outbreak. Most importantly, we cannot afford to put our great state’s residents at risk of death and disability.
Finally, Texas is dealing with the death of a child from measles. Many people were surprised to learn that measles can kill children. This is not the time to let our guard down.
What I love about West Virginia is how we can come together as a state when a neighbor or loved one is in need. We do not want to come together to mourn the death of a child from a terrible disease like measles when we know it could have been prevented.
I’m asking our legislators to consider both the ones who have already been born and those who will be born. I am urging our legislators to recognize that schools and child care settings are high-risk environments, and that our day care workers, teachers, school staff, and children in West Virginia require the best protection possible against terrible diseases that are easily transmissible but preventable through immunization.
West Virginia’s children are valuable and deserve the opportunity to live a life of liberty and happiness. Senate Bill 460 puts their chances at risk. It’s not a risk worth taking. I request that our legislators reject any changes to our current immunization requirements for child care and school entry.
