West Virginia remains leader in vaccination rates - WHSV

RANDOLPH COUNTY, W.Va. (WDTV/Gray News) - The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health threat.

West Virginia public school students currently are required to be immunized for chicken-pox, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, hepatitis-b, measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis and diphtheria.

"Believe it or not, they are already working on a vaccine for this particular coronavirus. But, we do not have it yet." said Dr. Mary Boyd, a pediatrician and medical director of the Randolph Elkins Health Department.

Reports analyzing CDC data show West Virginia has over 98% of kindergartners getting their MMR vaccines.

"I will say, when I go to national conferences with pediatricians, I have all kinds of pediatricians from all over the country come up to me and say, 'how do you do it West Virginia?' How do we do it? We are doing great when it comes to that," said Dr. Boyd.

West Virginia has strict vaccination requirements before students are allowed to attend schools. Only medical exemptions are accepted.

"West Virginia and Mississippi are they only two states in the United States that do not allow exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons for vaccines," said Dr. Boyd. "Because of that, we have excellent vaccination rates in our state. It is almost 100%."

Health officials point to the 2019 measles outbreak as proof that the vaccination requirements work.

"There was 1,200 cases of measles in the United States in the year 2019. It was in 31 states, but not in West Virginia," said Dr. Boyd.

An anti-vaccination movement has spread nationwide. New Gallup polls report the number of adults who believe vaccines are important has fallen from 94% in 2001 to 84% in 2020.

State lawmakers will decide on four bills this session focused on revising the vaccination exemptions.

"Every year it seems like the anti-vaxxers try to pass a bill in the legislature and so far we have been able to fight it off," said Dr. Boyd.

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