Federal Court Upholds State Vaccination Requirements 

Wednesday the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia that allowed an Upshur County student to enroll without mandatory vaccinations while her court case proceeded. The order also returned the case back to the lower court for reconsideration. 

On behalf of their daughter, parents Krystyl and Anthony Perry brought suit against Upshur County Schools and others to obtain a religious exemption from West Virginia’s compulsory vaccination law on the basis of their First Amendment rights.  

In a written opinion, Circuit Court Judge Harvie Wilkinson said, “Rights, as important as they are, do not swing free and clear of the larger social compact.”  

He wrote that the state’s vaccination requirement “is a legitimate exercise of the state’s power to protect the health and well-being of school children. Striking the law down would undermine not just our system of dual sovereignty, but also a long line of Supreme Court precedent.” 

Wilkinson was joined by Judge Steven Agee in his opinion, with Judge Paul Niemeyer dissenting. 

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals is currently reviewing a separate challenge of the state’s school vaccine law. 

Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order in January 2025 granting religious and philosophical exemptions to the state school vaccination requirements.   

Current state law says children must be vaccinated for chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before beginning school.   

A bill seeking to modify those requirements did not pass the West Virginia Legislature last year, casting doubt on the legal basis for Morrisey’s executive order and religious exemptions. 

Read the full opinion below: