West Virginia senators voted to dismantle one of the nation’s strictest school vaccination policies Friday by greenlighting an exemption for families who say mandated inoculations conflict with their religious or philosophical beliefs.

After a three-day delay, the West Virginia Senate approved Friday a bill to allow parents and guardians to cite religious or philosophical concerns to get out of the state’s mandatory immunization requirements for school-age children,

A bill to create a religious exemption for school children's vaccination requirements has passed the West Virginia Senate.