CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With rampant diabetes and obesity, Mississippi and West Virginia have struggled with health crises. Yet when it comes to getting children vaccinated, these states don’t mess around.
The states, among the poorest in the country, are the only ones that refuse to exempt school children from mandatory vaccinations based on their parents’ personal or religious beliefs. Separate efforts to significantly loosen those rules died in both states’ legislatures last week.
Mississippi has the highest immunization rate in the country for children entering kindergarten at 99.7 percent, while West Virginia is at roughly 96 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figures cover vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella; diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; and varicella, or chickenpox.
Public health officials say a 90 percent immunization rate is critical to minimizing the potential for a disease outbreak.
“Mississippi is not traditionally viewed as a leader on health issues. But in this area, they should be proud of the fact that they have not changed this law. Mississippi and West Virginia could be role models for other states,” said Dr. Mark Schleiss, a pediatrician and vaccine researcher at the University of Minnesota.
A recent measles outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people has brought attention to policies in 48 states that allow parents to opt out of vaccinating their children because of their religious beliefs or personal beliefs, or both.
But in West Virginia and Mississippi the rules are firm: Barring a significant medical reason, kids who haven’t been vaccinated can’t attend school — public or private.
Mississippi lawmakers are considering a proposal to let doctors grant medical exemptions that would allow children to skip or delay a vaccination. Currently, only the state Department of Health can grant an exemption. Though all 135 requested exemptions were granted for this school year, a group called Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights said the department has ignored its concerns that the state requires too many immunizations too early in life. The activists’ demand for a philosophical exemption was stripped from the bill last week.
Dr. Mary Currier, the state health officer in Mississippi, has urged legislators not to weaken the immunization requirements, particularly with measles spreading in other states.
Mississippi enacted a strong vaccination law in the 1970s. In 1979, the Mississippi Supreme Court blocked a father’s request not to vaccinate his son because of religious beliefs.
Republican Dean Kirby, chairman of the Mississippi Senate Public Health Committee, said that when proposals to create a philosophical exemption arose in recent years, he received calls mostly from one side — those wanting the change. With the measles outbreak this year, Kirby said he’s now hearing from parents who want to keep the law as it is.
“They don’t want their children going to school with people who have not had the shots,” Kirby said.
