CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On his first full day as West Virginia’s governor on Tuesday, Republican Patrick Morrisey issued a number of harsh executive orders. One of these orders allowed families to get religious exemptions from required school vaccinations, which is a huge change for a state with one of the strictest vaccine policies in the country.
In a separate order, all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in state-run institutions were to be ended. Morrisey said this would protect West Virginians from racial and gender discrimination, especially “inappropriate” favoritism toward some groups over others.
“I don’t think the people deserve anything less,” he told reporters at the state Capitol. The 2024 U.S. Census predicts that just under 93% of West Virginia’s people are white. This makes it one of the least diverse states in the country.
Under President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to get rid of what he calls “wokeness” in education, efforts to end DEI programs are likely to grow in states that are run by Republicans. In places like Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas, some colleges and universities are already getting rid of their diversity offices.
Morrisey used the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023 to say that race cannot be a factor in college admissions when he announced the executive orders. Morrisey said that his government would be writing to all cabinet members and agency heads to ask them to look into any “potential DEI that may exist within state government.”
He wouldn’t say which DEI programs he was talking about, but he did say they exist: “I want to see the changes made before I start calling people out.”
Mike Pushkin, chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, didn’t like the executive orders. He said they were a “troubling example” of presidential overreach that “could hurt us for generations.”
Pushkin said that the governor was using “divisive rhetoric meant to divide people by race.” He also said that it looked like the governor was “trying to not just make laws, but also interpret them.”
“The newly elected governor of West Virginia needs to remember that he’s the governor for everyone,” he said. “That includes people who don’t agree with him or look like him.”
Morrisey told the press that the governor’s job is to help make sure that the Constitution is “correctly interpreted and enforced the right way.”
The vaccine executive order changes a policy that has been praised by doctors for a long time as one of the safest in the country for kids when it comes to vaccinations. Before starting school, state law says that kids must get shots for whooping cough, chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus, and polio. The state does not force people to get a COVID-19 shot.
West Virginia is also one of very few places in the U.S. that only lets people who can’t get a vaccine for medical reasons.
This is also a big change from the position of Jim Justice, who used to be governor of West Virginia and is now a Republican U.S. senator. Last year, Justice vetoed a less broad vaccination bill passed by the Republican-majority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice became famous across the country as a pro-vaccine basketball coach for girls’ public schools. At the time, he said he had to listen to the licensed medical workers who “overwhelmingly” spoke out against the bill.
Morrisey told the press that the governor’s job is to help make sure that the Constitution is “correctly interpreted and enforced the right way.”
The vaccine executive order changes a policy that has been praised by doctors for a long time as one of the safest in the country for kids when it comes to vaccinations. Before starting school, state law says that kids must get shots for whooping cough, chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus, and polio. The state does not force people to get a COVID-19 shot.
West Virginia is also one of very few places in the U.S. that only lets people who can’t get a vaccine for medical reasons.
This is also a big change from the position of Jim Justice, who used to be governor of West Virginia and is now a Republican U.S. senator. Last year, Justice vetoed a less broad vaccination bill passed by the Republican-majority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice became famous across the country as a pro-vaccine basketball coach for girls’ public schools. At the time, he said he had to listen to the licensed medical workers who “overwhelmingly” spoke out against the bill.
Some Republicans in the Legislature have been trying for years to make it easier for people who don’t want to get vaccinated to go to school without having to get vaccinated.
Morrisey was West Virginia’s attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor on Monday. He said he thinks the Equal Protection for Religion Act, a law passed by the state legislature in 2023, should already allow religious exemptions to vaccines.
The law says the government can’t “substantially burden” someone’s constitutional right to religious freedom unless it can show a “compelling interest” to do so.
Since it was passed, Morrisey said, that law hasn’t “been fully and properly enforced.”
The governor said that parents will probably have to write to the state Bureau of Public Health and describe their religious beliefs in order to get a vaccine exemption. The process is still being worked out. He also said that he would make it clear to lawmakers when they get back to the Capitol next month for their 60-day session that religious exemptions are legal under the state’s vaccine law.
According to government data released in October, the number of kids in the U.S. who got vaccinated for kindergarten dropped in 2023, and the number of kids who didn’t get vaccinated reached an all-time high.
The percentage of kids who didn’t have to get a vaccine went up from 3% in 2022 to 3.3% in 2023. Also, 92.7% of kindergarteners got their shots, which is a little less than the two years before.
The vaccination rate before the COVID-19 pandemic was 95%. This is the amount of coverage that doctors say makes it unlikely that a single infection will cause a cluster or outbreak of diseases.
West Virginia used to have some of the highest rates of immunization in the country. From a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on kindergarten vaccination exemptions, it was found that the state had the lowest rate of exemptions in the country and the highest rate of vaccinations for kids that age.
This is the U.S. state with the worst health results and lowest life expectancy rates. It is tied with Mississippi.
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