photo by: Steven Allen Adams

Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Froble listens as acting State Health Officer Dr. Mark McDaniel answers questions during a hearing in a religious vaccine exemption lawsuit in Beckley on Thursday.

CHARLESTON — Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he remained confident in Dr. Mark McDaniel, the acting state health officer and commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health, following testimony last week by McDaniel in the Raleigh County religious vaccine exemption case.

Morrisey was asked about McDaniel’s testimony Tuesday morning during a press conference in the Governor’s Reception Room at the State Capitol Building.

McDaniel testified last Thursday morning on the final day of hearings on a permanent injunction being sought by Raleigh County parents who were granted religious exemptions to West Virginia’s compulsory vaccine law by the state Department of Health – via the Bureau of Public Health – per a January executive order issued by Morrisey.

The Raleigh County parents, led by Miranda Guzman, are seeking a permanent injunction against the West Virginia Board of Education, State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt and the Raleigh County Board of Education to prevent them from rejecting their religious exemptions per a June directive by the state board to county school systems to not accept religious exemptions.

State law requires children be vaccinated against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B unless a medical exemption is granted by the Department of Health.

Morrisey signed an executive order in January allowing for religious and conscientious objections to the state’s school vaccination mandates, requiring the commissioner for the Bureau of Public Health/state health officer to establish a process for parents/guardians to request religious or philosophical exemptions to school-age vaccines, only requiring a request in writing from the parent/guardian. Morrisey issued further guidance in May.

Department of Health Secretary Dr. Arvin Singh announced the appointment of McDaniel on Aug. 21, with McDaniel starting his new role on Aug. 25. He is a retired colonel in the West Virginia Air National Guard, serving as the state air surgeon. McDaniel succeeded interim state health officer Justin Davis, whom Morrisey said remains in charge of the religious exemption approvals.

“I think it’s important for people to know that once the (religious exemption) process started, Dr. McDaniel started fairly recently,” Morrisey said. “There has been an individual who has been in charge for a prolonged period of time, Justin Davis. And so that responsibility stayed with him. So, it made sense that the person that was handling it the whole way handled it through.”

Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Froble subpoenaed McDaniel to testify in the Raleigh County religious exemption permanent injunction hearing last week. McDaniel said he started his appointment as acting state health officer on Aug. 25.

While having the final say over the granting of medical exemptions once a parent makes an appeal of a decision by the Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services, McDaniel said he was not involved in decisions over religious exemptions and could not answer questions about how many religious exemptions have been granted as of last Thursday.

“What about religious exemptions?” Froble asked.

“No, I don’t have a purview of that,” McDaniel said.

“You really don’t have much input regarding religious exemptions in West Virginia at all,” Froble asked. “Is that a fair statement?”

“Yes,” McDaniel said.

“I gather from previous questioning that you haven’t formed an opinion about the state’s religious exemption process,” asked Ben Bailey, an attorney for the state Board of Education.

“I don’t have a personal opinion,” McDaniel said. “At this point, I’m just new to the job. I’m really kind of working over the data myself.”

“I have great respect for Dr. McDaniel,” Morrisey said Tuesday. “I’m not familiar with all the exact questions that were asked, but I think that the public should have confidence in him. He just wasn’t engaged and involved in those issues because that had been delegated to (Justin Davis) early on.”

Morrisey also explained why McDaniel was only the acting state health officer. McDaniel still works in the private sector in several roles, including for two addiction recovery services in Princeton and Parkersburg, as a regional medical director for LabCorp Inc., and as a regional medical supervisor for AFC Urgent Care Centers in North Carolina and Virginia.

“I think we look for high quality people, and to be blunt, I think the biggest challenge for hiring like that is that there were always these limitations,” Morrisey said. “Some of the limitations are put in place to limit people to go practice on the side, that’s what we found was challenging.

“A lot of the early applicants we had were people that said that they wanted to maintain their license, and the way that the statute was drafted made it very, very difficult,” Morrisey continued. “So, we want to make sure that we have the best quality people, and if people can maintain their license and continue to get good experience, we think that’s better policy.”