A Kanawha County circuit judge on Friday ruled against a mother seeking a religious exemption to the state’s school compulsory vaccination law on behalf of her son.

Judge Richard Lindsay dismissed the lawsuit against the Kanawha County Board of Education, saying that the state’s school vaccination law — with no religious exemptions — passes the strict scrutiny legal standard that the government must meet when determining if its action is constitutional.

“Vaccination of our children is a compelling state interest and it is pursuing the least restrictive means in order to satisfy that compelling interest and it is narrowly tailored to the extent that it is the only way possible to keep outbreaks of measles and other diseases and viruses ... at bay,” Lindsay said.

Nakesha Watson filed the

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