CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals put a halt to an order from a lower court that ordered state and local school officials to accept religious vaccine exemptions granted by the state for school-age children.

In a three-page order released Tuesday afternoon, the state Supreme Court issued a stay of a Nov. 26 written ruling by 14th Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Froble in Guzman v. West Virginia Board of Education.

Froble’s order granted permanent injunctive and declaratory relief to the plaintiffs and a certified class of families with religious vaccine exemptions statewide except those with pending cases before other circuit court judges.

However, the Supreme Court’s order freezes all further activity in the circuit court case until the underlying petition is fully

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